heavenlyHOLiC
by CeruleanRipTide
Summary: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn’t settling right with Doumeki. DouWata if you want it to be. Chapter 11 is up! This is the end! The last chapter! Enjo
1. Wasting Witch

heavenlyHOLiC

Disclaimer: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

Summary: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

Warning: Possible language, possible violence, shonen-ai implications

Pairing: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

A/N: The first three chapters are reflections on Watanuki's death, so you get to have some lovely angst from a few special characters and when we hit the fourth chapter, a plot starts to develop. So if you don't want to read the angsty reflections, come back for chapter 4 and you'll get a story with a plot. Please R &R

000

The sun was radiating at the station that day. It seemed perfectly normal and peaceful… quiet… Perhaps too quiet…

The skin of the boy, splayed across the roadside, as pale as it usually was, was sickly in nature… grayish and sickly... Dead.

_It was abnormal in this seemingly beautiful day. The blood that seeped from harsh wounds and twisted limbs was_ _abnormal in this seemingly innocent time of day. The lifeless and empty eyes, no longer full of passion and zeal, were_ _abnormal in this deceiving hour of the day. _

_It was silent… It was always silent. _

_No one to love the little boy left all alone. No one to hold the small child huddled in a hole. No one to care for the lonely boy strewn along the road. No one to miss the still child whose face is now covered by a white sheet. No one to mourn the loss of one more soul. _

111

The incense burned heavily throughout the shop that day. It was almost too cloudy to see in it and the smell was as mystic as always.

Yuuko lounged on her extravagantly designed sofa. She was more of a drape on the thing than an actual person. She carelessly dangled a leg off of it, an arm thrown behind her head, and a hand delicately holding a wine glass poised gently at her lips.

The dark circles under her eyes could lead any stray character who waltzed into her shop to believe that she had a hangover, as was usually the case. But not today. Today and the few days before had left her in a pit that she never wanted to experience again. The last time had left her bed ridden and deprived from society for months and she dare not do it again.

_But that boy…_ She had known it was coming, she had even told him to be careful that day… But as the rules of prophecy pronounce, it is not allowed to share a prediction so in detail. Hitsuzen would be the dealer of life and if it declared her employee dead and faded from existence, then that is what was meant to be, and she could not stop it. It was inevitable.

She rolled over a little, enough so that she could see the top of Mokona's furry scalp and the little way he moved into her side as she moved.

It was awkward in her home now… her little shop of wishes. It had been like this before, but it had been so long now and she had been enjoying herself with all the commotion and ruckus that usually led about.

The fact of the matter was, she missed the wire-framed eyes that would look at her skeptically, would grow annoyed when she requested excess amounts of alcohol and exotic dishes. She missed…

She had grown used to his loudness, to his ability to make a scene so quickly. She enjoyed watching the boy go through his daily struggles, to watch him evolve and develop bonds, to watch his life unfold in front of her eyes. He was an intriguing person and some how, this boy who she had taken in as a customer and employee, had weaned his way into her life… So much so that she was like this. Wasting.

…

It was quiet in her shop. It was quiet in her life… And she couldn't help the stray thought that maybe Watanuki had thought the same thing too at that time.

Her eyes never shifting, but swirling with thought and wisdom, she spoke.

"Hitsuzen… It is only the inevitable, and sometimes…" she paused as she whispered out the last part, "…it hurts."

She tipped the crystalline glass to her lips and took a sip of the alcoholic liquid as a rogue tear found its way down her cheek.

She dropped the wine glass to the floor and fell asleep. Maru knelt down beside the tired witch and held her hand, cuddling it to her cheek with a saddened look as Moro pulled a blanket over her mistress.

000

Next Chapter: Lonely Love

A/N: So how was Yuuko's reaction? These aren't going to be very long reflections which is good because if you look at some of my other works it takes me a while to update. When the plot kicks up, it'll get longer.


	2. Lonely Love

**heavenlyHOLiC**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

**Summary**: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

**Warning**: Possible language, possible violence, shonen-ai implications

**Pairing**: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

**A/N**: Okay as you can tell last chapter was Yuuko. This chapter is NOT Doumeki's which is sad to say… His is coming soon though so don't worry! And his will be the longest and start out the plot. Thanks for the reviews and don't forget to R&R if you haven't!

000

Tear after tear came down her soft and plush cheeks. Her green eyes watered and she rubbed them futilely as she took in sharp breaths of air. Her face was flushed from her state of being.

Currently she was curled up on her bed, still dressed in her usual attire. A fist clenched one of her sheets lightly. She couldn't must up the strength to lift herself from the bed and purge herself of the sickness she could feel rising in her throat.

It was only a few days ago and still she couldn't rid the missing feeling in her heart.

111

_Briiing. Briiing._

_The telephone wasn't too far away from her, but currently Himawari was doing chores for her mother… but she supposed the chores could wait for a moment. She turned off the vacuum cleaner and went to go retrieve the phone when it stopped. Her mother had it; she could hear her voice in the next room. She listened for a moment to make sure that the phone was not for her. _

"_Himawari?" her mother called for her daughter peering from behind a doorway, phone clutched to her chest. _

"_Yes mother?" she knew the answer already, but decided to confirm as she made her way to the phone. _

"_It's for you." Himawari smiled and took the phone from her mother who walked silently away. She had expected it to be one of her girlfriends who wanted to go out and shop or something along those lines, perhaps even Doumeki-kun or Watanuk-kun would call her. _

"_Hello?" she asked cheerfully into the phone. "Ah! Doumeki-kun!" Her suspicions were correct, what he wanted however remained a mystery. "What's going on?" she merrily asked._

_He responded… Something was not right. _

"_Doumeki-kun? … What's wrong?" There was a pause and she could hear him breathing. Then he spoke two words and hung up. _

_She listened to the dial tone of the phone and for a few moments her world became silent and still. Her breathing became a little heavier and hitched. Then she suddenly dropped the phone and fell to her knees, head in her hands and cried out loud. _

_Her mother ran in to see what was the matter, but the state of her daughter just made her collapse at her side and hold her to her chest and soothe the pig tailed girl clinging to her shirt. _

_She wasn't sure how to feel at the moment. It came at her so quickly, she wasn't sure if she should even believe the words… but for some reason they were there, and in her heart she knew they were true. _

_But that didn't help with the fact that…_

…

…_Watanuki was gone. _

112

Himawari stood in her room, looking at her full body mirror that hung from the back of her door. She wearily tied her hair in a ponytail with a single yellow ribbon… At the funeral she had decided to tie her other ribbon onto the flower she had dropped next to the casket. Doumeki had put a hand on her shoulder and reassured her that Watanuki would have appreciated it.

Her eyes still looked watery and puffy from the past few days.

Today would be the first day back to school since the incident. Today would be the first day that Watanuki would not bring her a home cooked bento. Today would be the first day that she never saw his smile again. Today would be the first day without Watanuki ever again.

The thought brought warmth to her eyes again and a sinking feeling in her throat and stomach and she clutched a hand to her mouth and waist. _Watanuki…_

She quickly wiped away the stinging at her eyes and straightened out her uniform. It would be hard today… She knew people would ask her about the incident… Would try to comfort her and ask her how she was feeling… It would be hard on her with all of this attention and remembrance… But most of all… It would be hard to face Doumeki. The two had been close, very close as she could remember… and that look she had last seen him with… was… horrible. She couldn't bare it again if she saw it.

She took her bag and said her partings to her mother and left for school, walking slowly with a thoughtful look on her face.

A little breeze brushed by her and her hair tickled her face. Something out of the corner of her eye caught her gaze… A butterfly with golden wings and a black trim fluttered around her head for a moment before it flew higher into the sky and she lost it in the glare of the radiant sun…

She felt a tug at the corners of her mouth and the depressed look on her face lifted, unsure of itself, into a small smile… And for some reason…

She felt much better.

000

Next Chapter: Shaking Spirits

**A/N**: Again I said these weren't long. Lol Probably the next two tomorrow and the fourth will be a little later perhaps. I do have a few papers to write for college and I'm going to try and throw out the second chapter of my Tsubasa fic too so it might take me a little longer than expected. Thanks again for the reviews! The Dou/Wata implications will come around the fourth chapter.


	3. Shaking Spirits

**heavenlyHOLiC**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

**Summary**: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

**Warning**: Possible language, possible violence, shonen-ai implications

**Pairing**: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

**A/N**: Okay… not as dished out as I wanted… lol But I got my license and have to write a few papers for college so… uhh… it might be updated a little slower than expected. Thanks for the reviews by the way! REALLY appreciate them Oh and there's something you should know about the way this one is set up. In this the italics are not the past, but other scenes that are happening at the same time as what is being spoken.

000

"What should we do?"

"Please don't cry! This is all his fault still!"

"We can't hurt him! He's dead!"

"Shhh! You'll upset her even more!"

"Hmmm…"

The karasu tengu floated about on their yellow glide boards, circling around a light framed figure crouched on a rock. When they had heard the news, they felt that their beloved Zashiki Warashi should know.

Her dark hair fell over her eyes and shielded her face from the peaceful and pure world around her. She held an object in her on of her hands, an object almost as delicate as her thin fingers that she caressed it with.

Tears bubbled down her face and fell on the cold rock she had perched herself upon. Her legs were drawn into her chest slightly and she wrapped an arm around them.

Zashiki Warashi cried almost on a daily basis. There was something to always be sad about, whether a blade of grass had been violated or a visit to the earthly realm had disheartened her… or perhaps she cried sometimes because she was just truly happy. These past few days however were not of the happy tears… These tears were as clear as the sky and gorged with broken heartedness.

When she had first set eyes on the blue-eyed boy, something struck her. She wasn't sure what it was, but it made her face hot, she could remember that. She would peer at him from above and follow his actions through spiritual news and gossip and she would laugh and she would feel worried even though she had never met him before… She felt happy to know he was safe and happy though… She fell in love.

He had been so kind to her when she mistakenly had stolen… she couldn't remember his name too well… Doumeki was it? When she had stolen Doumeki's soul. He almost seemed more perplexed than anything… He didn't appear mad at her at all and she truly had felt relieved at the prospect…

He had been so understanding of the situation and later from familiar sources, he had appeared to have actually been happy to receive her gift. In fact he returned the favor and presented her with a gift… A twin set of hairpieces.

She ran a delicate fingertip over one of the white wings of a hairpin. Her eyes seized up and more warm tears came out. The karasutengu were now frantic.

She made a little choking sound.

"Watanuki…"

"There you are," Zashiki Warashi looked up behind her at the familiar voice. Ame Warashi was floating down next to her on her umbrella ride.

"I thought you'd be here… I came when I could," Ame Warashi said with her usual dominant tone… but her eyes held a sort of remorse and sadness of their own. Though she really didn't care much anyway.

She knelt down carefully next to Zashiki Warashi and placed her umbrella down on the rock and took the sprite into an embrace and enveloped her in familiar arms. She soothed out her hair and rubbed her back like any good friend.

Zashiki Warashi was unsure of what to do other than cling to her friend and cry to her hearts' content.

"Shh… It's okay…" she started to rock her a little bit in attempts to lull her pure spirit. All Zashiki Warashi had managed to do was cry even more. Ame Warashi decided then that she need to explain things to her friend…

"He was a good boy… Better than most humans I mean," she started off. Zashiki Warashi stopped her crying immediately and pulled away from the red headed rain sprite. She looked at her wide eyes and Ame Warashi turned her head away and stared at a piece of moss on the rock. "He intrigued me as he did most of us… I'm sure you understand that." Zashiki Warashi nodded.

"There was something about him…"

_The little fox ran to the oden stand waving his arms frantically, occasionally tripping over nothing, wiping small tears from his slit eyes. His father was already waiting for him and the little one ran straight into his father's paws and sobbed uncontrollably. His father mouthed a couple of words to him. The little one would understand someday._

"He was kind…"

_The yumekai held the balloon that lit up the night sky in the spirit realm. He looked at it and shook his head. It was a pity, what had happened. He had wished to see the boy again sometime._

"He had a good heart…"

_The nectar tree did not move, nor did it speak. The beauty that it normally emitted had taken on an eerie low tone and even though it had no facial expressions of its own, it seemed as if it had taken upon its knees in a figurative manner._

_Demons and spirits crowded around it and spoke of the boy who had given the hajaya arrow to the little fox and of their own personal encounters with the boy who had changed them or benefited them in some way._

"He had a power…"

Ame Warashi paused subconsciously to dwell and muse on her own opinion of the living spirit pheromone. He had not made a good first impression on her… but his care and actions for both humans and spirit alike had struck her as … odd… perhaps even unique.

Most of her sadness lie, however, within Zashiki Warashi. There was something about her, her purity perhaps, that she wanted to protect and guard.

"…He was a good boy… and from what I can tell about him…" she looked her teary eyed friend in the eyes, searching for her attention, "… he would feel miserable for you to be like this…" Zashiki Warashi opened her eyes a bit in a gasp.

"So why don't you knock off the tears already okay?" Ame Warashi requested. "… For Watanuki."

At those words Zashiki Warashi had just nodded lightly, everything that Ame Warashi had just spoken to her about settling in her head. _Watanuki…_ she bowed her head and Ame Warashi almost thought she would cry again.

"Okay," she sat her head up and smiled, a bit painfully, but Ame Warashi knew she would be okay now and she gave her friend one last hug and left her to the karasutengu who were very rejoiced at her change of mood.

Zashiki Warashi stood up and waved at her retreating friend and a light warm breeze blew her hair into her face. She smiled and took her pins and hooked her hair out of her face once more and smiled at the world around her.

The sun glinted off her wings.

000

Next Chapter: Broken Bento

**A/N**: Okay! Next chapter is Doumeki's and it's where the plot actually starts so if you've been waiting for this to go somewhere, you'll get a bit of it at the end of chapter 4. Thanks for reviewing again by the way!  reviews make her happy


	4. Broken Bento

heavenlyHOLiC

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

**Summary**: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

**Warning**: Possible language, possible violence, shonen-ai implications

**Pairing**: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

**A/N**: Omg 10 reviews so far! Aaah!  so happy - Thanks so much and here's your long awaited Doumeki reaction.

000

_It was raining now… The sun was shining yesterday… cloudless…rainless… sky. But yesterday wasn't what it was today. Dreary and dark, clouded with rain._

_Their class had decided to come out of respect for their departed member and stood in the rain, holding their umbrellas in the air. Not many cried, in fact, no one save for young Himawari had. The most expression the boy's classmates had offered was their shock at the loss. _

_Doumeki stood out from the crowd gathered in the cemetery, clad in his usual temple wear, soaked by the fallen rain. He would be performing the funeral service today._

_It was only fitting, someone had told him, for him to be the one to settle his soul for the afterlife._

_He cringed in pain. _

_He walked forward to the casket and paused in front of it. He had not closed it yet, because he still had something to give._

_He carried out the ritual prayers for safe passage and spoke a few words of grief. He became silent after the last word had left his mouth and his eyes widened just a little before they resettled themselves. _

_He reached into his belt line and pulled out what appeared to be a broken arrow… the fletching half. His classmates looked at him with curious expressions plastered on their faces as he reached into the casket. _

_He couldn't look at the sleeping boy's face, he wasn't sure what effects it would have on him and he could not show his grief at the funeral… Not here. _

_He took his hand in his own and folded the hajaya arrow into his cold grasp and neatly replaced the hands back onto the lifeless chest where they originally had been. _

_He took a moment to pause and say a few silent words to the deceased boy in front of him. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was peering into the boys face. _

_It was paler than normal, if that had been possible. Glasses were still in place, it just wouldn't appear to be Watanuki without them. He only appeared to be sleeping. He had to be. _

_A flash of lightening struck around the area and it snapped him out of his thoughts and he quickly shut the casket when a hurt expression crossed his face. He turned around, head down and away from the crowd and walked away from the staring faces. His normal face was back in place… but it doesn't change the fact that he was saddened. _

_Himawari watched her friends' back as he walked away from the casket, through the puddles that made little splashes when he stepped in them. _

111

Doumeki made his way to school; it wasn't out of the ordinary. He went every school day. But… something was amiss in today's schedule. There was a certain someone who was not with him.

Watanuki…

He looked beside him where normally a lanky boy would be. He could almost imagine him flailing about, complaining about one thing or another and then somehow making it Doumeki's fault.

He really didn't care though. He knew well enough, as did Watanuki, that they were friends. Albeit they had an odd relation with each other, but why else would the blue-eyed boy continue to walk with him? Why else would the dark haired archer put up with the loudness?

But now…

He just…

…

112

The bell rang for class to begin. Doumeki was already in his seat towards the back. A few straggling students piled their way into the room before the teacher arrived. Doumeki couldn't have cared less at that point.

Currently his eyes were fixed on the back of the boy in front of him… Said boy turned around, almost as if in slow motion, it seemed like a memory as the ice blue eyes made contact with his own.

He paused and watched the boys mouth open and shut slowly with a smile on his face before it turned into a pout and his brows narrowed in annoyance. The archer could almost hear the wails of irritation coming from the figure in front of him.

And then the seat was empty once more…

Doumeki turned his head to the side and propped his head in his hand. Today would be difficult.

113

Watanuki was gone.

He had come to accept that fact… He had come to accept that he would not see his face today… but he had not come to terms with the long time deprivation of his friend.

It was sunny out today. Not like the day of the funeral. There was a faint, warm breeze that came through the area. The grass was green and the trees allowed a few rays of light to filter in through their leaves.

Doumeki was making his way around the school grounds and then… he stopped.

He could hear his heart pounding and suddenly, he had never been so scared in his life.

He gasped. It was silent, save for his uneven breaths… and he could feel his face heat up, right beneath his eyes.

He clenched his teeth and for a moment his brows lifted into a pained look and he took a hand to his mouth as he tried to force away what was coming. He made a little noise. He couldn't be like this.

He fell to his knees and turned his head away from the patch of grass near the trees… their meeting area.

He had subconsciously made his way to the place where they would eat home made bento. It was routine for him… and suddenly he couldn't take it any more.

Watanuki was gone… He was really gone… Not just for today, but… forever.

He would never see him in class. He would never walk him home. He would never again eat his passion filled bento. He wouldn't have to save him nor would he get to sample his sweets. He would never see Watanuki again.

It scared him.

His eyes grew warm and damp…

…

No one was around to hear his muffled noises as he bent over himself in the grass and stifled every little thing threatening to seep through.

114

"Oi, Doumeki," a member of the arching team came over and took a seat next to their star archer. The sight of the dark haired boy sitting on the bench, bow in hand disturbed him greatly. He had known Doumeki would be upset, but… the look he threw at the target was too much.

He received no answer.

He frowned a bit.

"Doumeki… I know you were close to Watanuki…" The archer flinched at the name. It was a noticeable flinch, only visible for a split second. He had touched a sore spot. "I'm not sure what you saw in him… but he's gone now. You need to suck it up and practice! We have a meet coming up and we need you Doumeki!" The boy pleaded. It was true, without the aid of their star it could be a close call…

He turned to his teammate and threw him a look. His brows were narrowed and his eye looked as piercing as the arrows that he shot with deadly accuracy.

The boy jumped back at the look and just mumbled a sorry and went back to practicing.

This was hard on him, Doumeki thought as he stared back at the ground and buried his face in his hands and tapped his knee up and down rapidly in attempts to soothe his hot face, to try and draw away his thoughts. He couldn't deal with this.

He stood up and left the practice range.

115

It was strange to think Watanuki was gone. He clutched his chest in pain…

It was so strange… Nothing seemed right and it was … so sudden. But perhaps that's really how death worked: sudden and hurtful. It made sense he supposed.

He worked around the dead almost all his life because of his job at his temple. He was used to seeing dead bodies, their lifeless faces and motionless forms. Not even the slight rise and fall of a chest… just… nothing.

… But to see a classmate like that… to see a friend like that… to see _Watanuki_… like that…

Another pang and he leaned against the sidewalk wall, fist curled to his chest and forehead rested against the cold stone.

Something was wrong though… He was in so much pain… so much devastating pain… but… it didn't feel like sadness or grief… it felt like…

Guilt?

Pain?

Something was wrong with those… He should be overwhelmed with sorrow he thought… and maybe that's what sprung the guilt… But why was he in so much pain?

Why did this hurt him so much? He threw a fist at the wall and shoved himself off, his face and eyes becoming noticeably warm again against the cool concrete wall.

_Watanuki is gone…_ he thought to himself. _I just have to accept it…_ He held his head up higher and continued to walk home.

But… something just didn't feel right…

116

It was dark now.

The ebony haired archer lay on his bed dressed in his nighttime attire, arms propped behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

He hadn't moved for hours. The thoughts he had tried to rid himself during the course of the day had come flooding in the moment he had stepped onto pure grounds and he could feel himself crumbling.

He had felt sick and spent some time lying on the cool tile of the bathroom floor, rubbing his face into his sleeve, his expression never faltering.

Now he could not sleep even though his red eyes told him otherwise. He sat up and threw off his blankets and made his way downstairs… Perhaps some tea would clear his mind for some well-needed rest.

It only took a few minutes for him to make it and he found a comfortable spot on the floor near the door panel that led outdoors. He sipped slowly on the hot tea in his hands. Indeed it did settle his stomach and its magical and sedating taste calmed him slightly.

It was quiet again and he went to take another sip…

And it was black… Darkness came about from his right side. He dropped his cup of tea and jumped to his feet, surprised by the oncoming slot of black.

He could still see from his left that he was in his living room and he gave a small intake of breath. There was no way this could be happening.

In the darkness… there was something there… a figure? … a person maybe? He squinted to try and make out what it was he saw in the distance.

He blinked.

And his vision returned to normal. He blinked again to see if it would return and he looked around, whipping his head from left to right to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

…

Then it hit him… _My right…_

…

His breathing became rasp and shaky…

And he sank to his knees, touching a hand to his right eye…

Something was not right.

000

Next Chapter: Right Reveals

**A/N**: Okay! We have a plot started! I'm not telling you what happens next now because it's plot time. Now here's the real test of whether you truly like this or not. Lol Thanks for the reviews again!


	5. Right Reveals

**heavenlyHOLiC**

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

**Summary**: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

**Warning**: Possible language, possible violence, shonen-ai implications

**Pairing**: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

**A/N**: I'm so happy you guys like it! I finally figured out were this is headed! Sorry, I've had so many essays to write for school so I've been staying up late trying to work on this for you guys. Thank you SO much for reviewing everyone! It makes me really happy. Woo! 24 reviews! I've never gotten that many before:cries she's so happy: Oh and the 000 111 112 113… thing is just my way of separating scenes I guess lol I'm really weird. I can never get the line thing to work when uploading my story and it takes out all the pretty little asterisk designs so… I needed something Thanks again!

000

Just like the previous days and all the days before during the school year, Doumeki arose from slumber and showered. It was a routine he needed to follow in order to stay awake in the morning, otherwise he had no initiative.

He dried off his short hair, looking at himself in the mirror. He couldn't help but focus on his eyes. To a regular person, they probably didn't look any different from each other… But because they were his eyes he could immediately tell the difference… It was a kind of spiritual difference, nothing that marred them physically, other than the lack of perfect sight… but spiritually they were halved in a weird way.

The incident of last night had left him quite confused. It had left him worried, somehow. It even left him a little bit angry. It was only coincidental that he had blacked out on his right half. It was like someone was playing a cruel game with him to remind him of what he shared.

_Nothing in this world is coincidental… There is only "hitsuzen."_

So simple.

He remembered Watanuki reciting the words spoken to him from his employer. How was Yuuko-san doing these days? He wondered how she had personally taken his death. He knew he would never know, but couldn't shake the thought.

He rubbed his hair some more, lost in thought.

A quick flash of black.

He looked at the mirror, trying to focus his eye back in place. The flash had been so quick he wasn't sure if he had actually imagined it due to the stress that this whole event has placed on him.

There was no way this was happening to him. He shouldn't be blacking out like this. His vision should be normal. There was no one to share his vision with anymore!

He rubbed it briefly as if it would ward off and future flashes. He looked at himself in the mirror again and feathered his fingers over it before turning away and leaving the room to get dressed for school.

111

"Look it's Doumeki-kun!"

"He's so handsome…"

"I know. What would it be like to date him I wonder?"

"I wouldn't try though… I hear he was hung over some boy named Watanuki Kimihiro."

"Eh! Really?"

"… Rumor has it that they were really close! Well, at least that's what I've heard…"

"Then it's probably not true. You know how rumors are…"

"That name sounds familiar…"

"Oh! Isn't that the kid in out class who just died recently?"

"You're right! Oh, poor Doumeki-kun! This must be so hard on him."

They didn't know the half of it.

He walked right by the group of girls. It was the same all over school, for all cliques and faculty alike. He was tired of it. They needed to get over it, just like he himself intended to.

Watanuki was gone. Watanuki wouldn't be in school. Watanuki wouldn't give him bento. Watanuki wouldn't hang out with him and Himawari.

At least that's what he tried to tell the memory standing next to him…

He took a seat in the classroom, ignoring all the whispers. It had been a few days now like this. He always behaved as such, but it had become the most popular gossip lately.

The archer propped his head in his hand and stared out the window at the sunlight. He didn't think he had been behaving all the differently. Or at least it had seemed as such to him… His eyes felt weary and stung a little…

_Must be from the lack of sleep from last night…_ He told himself. The bell rang.

The dark haired boy paid no attention to the activities of the morning class. He was too busy thinking of last night.

He had shared his sight with the blue-eyed boy. He had willingly given up half of the sight in his right eye so that he could see again. Perhaps this was a side effect of the boy's death?

Maybe with the death of the person he shared his vision with his would decrease and cause partial blindness because Watanuki was blind in that eye? It was a confusing circumstance and he didn't particularly care for it. Not because of the occasional blindness it caused… but because of the pain it reminded him of…

He watched Watanuki beside him smile…

He stared with an unchanging expression on his face as the image faded out. He continued to look at the spot and then scrunched his face slightly and turned his head away, face in hand.

No.

He was determined to get over this. Watanuki was dead. He will always be dead now. The past was past and now was now. The lump in his throat was starting to give him a constant nauseating feeling.

The archer sat up and tried to focus on something other than the lingering ripples of memory that kept flooding into his mind. The teacher was calling for attendance.

"Aiki Hito."

"Awasura Nozami."

He shut his eyes and awaited for his name. He couldn't keep them open anymore. He was exhausted.

A short, hitched sigh made its way from his mouth and he looked up as the names entered into the D's.

A brown eye stared at him. Face pale and clammy in appearance, with cold blue lips. He could almost feel the icy breath on him from the parted lips in front of him.

A noise escaped him and he stood up in surprised when the eye moved, almost as if it were looking directly at him, into him. Into his body. Into his very soul…

It was so intense… So captivating… He could not tear his own mind from that single eye... He was so wrapped in the shock and leer of it he did not notice the stares from his left.

His eyes were wide now and his breathing became ragged.

He was undoubtedly afraid… He could feel fear clutch at his heart and wrench it to the side, tearing it apart and leaving it to bleed from a gaping hole in his chest.

_Watanuki…!_

He blinked.

The vision was gone.

"Doumeki-kun?" Himawari questioned from his diagonal right.

He did not hear her concern and moved to grab his pack before quickly leaving the classroom.

"Doumeki-kun! Where are you going?" The teacher called to him as he left.

He did not stop, nor did he look back and he left the school grounds, heading for a place that would know what is going on.

The teacher sighed, unsure of what to do. The students stared at the door where one of their student council members had left through before turning to each other and whispering.

"Doumeki-kun is smart and a good athlete and even part of the student council…. He always seemed normal enough.."

"What's gotten into him lately?"

"Well he was friends with that Watanuki kid…"

"Yeah, it was a shock even for me even though he and I weren't friends…"

"Do you think he's lost it?"

The whispers continued before the teacher silenced them all and focused them back on class time.

Himawari however could not help but draw her attention to the door where the archer had gone. She scrunched her brows together in concern. She was really worried about Doumeki; he had been acting so strange lately. Of course she knew why, but that didn't help with the fact that mentally, he had become somewhat shaky. She was beginning to become afraid that he might do something to himself… and she wasn't sure what she would do if she lost Doumeki as well…

"Doumeki-kun…" She whispered and turned her head back to the front of the classroom.

112

There was no denying it now.

He quickened his pace through the morning crowd, shoving past people and ignoring their shouts. He was on a mission to get some answers and the only place he knew of was an invisible shop located on an empty lot.

He couldn't deny that this was only temporary blindness caused by the death of his friend.

That eye…

Something was wrong.

Something wasn't right.

He had sensed it before when he had first learned of Watanuki's death. He had become so enveloped in the hurt he felt initially that he hadn't noticed fully…

Something was wrong.

Something wasn't right.

All he could think of was Watanuki…

_Watanuki._

_Watanuki. _

_Watanuki…_

Something was wrong with his death. He could feel it. It was unsettling… It almost seemed… wrong. Yes, death always seemed wrong, but he felt that… _Watanuki's_ spirit wasn't at ease.

He was about to step into the street to cross the road when a suddenly black flash obstructed his vision once more and he pulled himself back onto the curb…

He could feel the wind of a truck whipping by him and he looked at it with his left eye, heart thumping….

The black was gone and he could see the people to his right.

If he had taken that step…

He shook his head and stormed off into the street and broke into a run when he touched the other side. He suddenly felt a sense of urgency to the whole situation. He had been urgent in his quest to find some answers, however… the whole state of affairs suddenly seemed… dire. He ran.

Something was most definitely not right.

His legs were becoming sore and tight as he brought them to their limits. His throat scratched as he breathed and he gasped for air as the empty lot came into view.

He slowed to a stop and wobbled a bit as he stood in front of the wooden fence. His head was bowed to the ground and his hands on his knees. He tried to catch his breath as he looked up at the lot.

It had always struck him as silly when Watanuki had mentioned the store. At first he thought it was him being delusional. But something in the reality of the boy's voice made him believe that it was truly there. And then he met Yuuko…

Still, he stared at the empty lot, gasping, waiting for something to pop up or for a store to come into view.

He took in some breath and was about to open his mouth and hollar for the owner of the store, when a delicate foot poked itself out of the emptiness at the entrance.

Long fingers with clean and painted nails found themselves on the edge of the fence and soon a dark haired woman emerged. Her raven hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her back as a pink kimono laxly held onto her pale form. A small smile adorned her face.

The archer looked at her for a moment, bewildered as always at the woman. She never ceased to amaze him in her personality and figure.

He stood up and looked at her. She looked back, still smiling.

He had come for a reason.

He opened his mouth to speak when she spoke.

"So you've finally noticed."

He smile looked as devious as ever and she leaned herself along the fence and fixed herself on the archer's stoic face.

…She knew.

He looked at her for a while longer, almost as if studying her.

How did she know?

Doumeki looked up and met her eyes and began to speak.

000

Next Chapter: Spirit Salvage

**A/N**: I'm sorry it took so long! The next chappy will probably take a long time for me to produce as well. I'm finishing up midterms, working on essays, anime club, learning aikido, tennis, getting over a break up with my bf of 3 years, etc. So yeah, it might be a while, but don't think I've given up on this! I'm determined to finish this one. lol Thanks for all the reviews! You guys made me so happy!


	6. Spirit Salvage

heavenlyHOLiC

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

Summary: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

Warning: Possible language, possible violence, shounen-ai implications

Pairing: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

A/N: Omg I am soooo sorry!! I've been SWAMPED with midlife crisis's and homework. lol Thanks for the reviews and if you haven't it'd be much appreciated!!

* * *

000

"So you've finally noticed."

She smiled with her ethereal, all-knowing look smeared on her face, like a girl wearing too much make up. Her eyes fixed on the archer.

… _She knows something._ Doumeki decided. He intended to find out.

He opened his mouth to retort to her comment, but she beat him to it.

"I know why you're here… That right eye of yours is acting up, is it not? …" she said nonchalantly, her gaze still piercing the dark haired boy. She was a witch and at times, he believed she should make a profession in fortune telling. It always amazed him that she knew what he wanted.

She continued, "… If I told you that Watanuki Kimihiro was in danger… would you risk your life for him once more?" He could feel the anger well in him as it always had when he found that the blue eye boy was in trouble. He lost his senses and acted on impulse, doing anything that would save him without considering the consequences.

After a moment he nodded his head, stoic face in place. She smiled a bit and stood up straight and put one of her delicate hands in her robe near her chest. He felt his eyes drift out of curiosity towards her chest as she fumbled around in her loose clothing. Any other man would feel like a pervert for staring at her the way he was, but he felt no attraction to the witch. He was more curious as to what she had in her robe.

At long last she withdrew a slender object that glimmered in the light of the moon. He recognized the pipe immediately and awaited the creature that slept within to emerge.

Her slender white hands opened the cap that acted as the door to a room and a furry snake like creature poked it head out of the tube. It swirled out of it halfway and glanced around outside with its tiny eyes before they settled on Doumeki.

The archer and the fox stared at each other for a few moments before Doumeki looked at Yuuko.

"What's it for?" Yuuko smiled and held out her hand towards the amber-eyed man, the kudakitsune traveling along it to the very tips of her fingers before sitting upright and moving close to Doumeki's face, almost nose to nose.

"It's not what it is for… it is why…" Yuuko looked at kudakitsune for a moment before glancing her mysterious eyes at Doumeki's, catching them for an instance. "You are not the only one who has lost something important, and as such you are not the only one who wishes to help," she could see a wince in the depths of the archer's eyes at the reminder of the loss.

Doumeki brings his attention back to the kudakitsune awaiting his decision. They stare each other down as if they were examining each other's soul to determine if the other was qualified enough to help their common interest.

After a good while, the archer leaned his shoulder towards the long thin creature which "chu"-ed in happiness and found a comfortable home inside Doumeki's shirt. Yuuko smiled and dropped her arm to her side.

"Then are you ready?"

Doumeki was unsure of what she meant by ready. She was generally vague in what her intentions were, but he was also of course, usually willing to go along with them if asked.

"You still haven't told me what is wrong…" he commented, not wanting to let the witch escape without informing him of the current situation.

"You will find out soon… Now are you ready?" she asked again. She seemed a little impatient at the moment and after some thoughtful consideration, the archer decided that the dark haired woman wouldn't have told him anyway.

He replies with a simple nod that is mimicked by kudakitsune.

"Very well then… The price for your travel will be determined at a later date. Good luck, Doumeki-kun," she gave him a sly smile.

Yuuko raised one of her delicate arms, the silky material of her clothes draping off of her arms, palm flat towards Doumeki. He wasn't quite sure what she was doing at first until he felt a static force rip through is body and the ground opened up beneath him.

The archers' eyes widened a bit in surprise as the now goopy ground reached up around him and swallowed him whole, pulling him beneath the ground and out of sight.

Yuuko smiled as the ground resettled itself neatly, almost as if it had never been morphed and she let her hand fall to her side. Her pale body leaned against the wooden post outside her home and she brought her arms up to hold herself, tilting her delicate face to the sky.

"Now hitsuzen… Where will you bring us?"

111

The light of the moon had been cut off when Doumeki had been swallowed by the molten asphalt that he had been standing on. Everything around him was pitch black. He couldn't even see kudakitsune attempting to see in the dark as well, though he could feel the creature tighten slightly around his neck.

The dark continued for a while longer and the archer had begun to wonder if perhaps he was actually where he was supposed to be. Or maybe he was lost?

But his thoughts were answered when his surroundings suddenly changed. He looked around at the familiar shades of green, black, orange, and brown and the noticeable glowing tree located off to his left…

He was in the spirit realm where he and Watanuki had attended the festival and retrieved Yuuko's alcoholic nectar. At least this was a familiar area…

Was Watanuki…here?

…

Doumeki narrowed his amber eyes glancing behind him, suddenly sensing a presence behind him. He turned around slowly.

Hundreds of them were standing right there, not as many as he had seen the night of the festival, but a good deal of them. Spirits.

They looked at him with curious and hungry eyes, some licking their chops and others already closing in. Kudakitsune slithered around anxiously in and out of Doumeki's shirt and squeezing at his neck.

They could hear some of the spirits talking to themselves and others.

"A human?"

"What should we do with it?"

"Eat it?"

"He doesn't look to tasty…"

"Doesn't matter, food is food."

"Right."

They all paused their chatter for a moment and focused their eyes on Doumeki and kudakitsune, seeming to come to a simultaneous vote on what to do with the archer.

Right about now, Doumeki is sure that Watanuki would have been screaming frantically… on second thought, he was sure that Watanuki would have been attempting to calm the spirits and dissuade them from their obvious decision, and when they started to pursue, then he would break into scream.

…

Everything he did seemed so different without the glasses clad boy at his side, he decided. It was so quiet and as much as the blue eyed boy's rants and screeches annoyed him, he enjoyed them all the same… It pained him to not have him their with him, at his side… It all felt so wrong…

…

He needed to help him, no matter what. He wanted to get back that life that Watanuki had provided him throughout their time together.

It was then that he noticed the spirits had already taken their advance and were closing in. His eyes widened a bit in shock as he takes a step back, ready to make a break for it and look for Watanuki.

"Stop it, please!"

A feminine voice rang through out the area and cause Doumeki to pause in his retreat and search the sky. The spirits did not cease their onslaught.

"She said stop!" suddenly a figure dressed in black and white appear, flashing an umbrella in front of them, a flash of light distressing them all and causing them all to halt.

The figure stood up, red hair bobbing in anger as she folded her umbrella and laid it upon her shoulder. Ame-Warashi.

She glanced back at Doumeki, eyes narrowing a bit as if she were examining him briefly… It made her seem almost superior in a way.

She turned her attention back to the spirits. Zashiki-Warashi floated down next to her red headed companion, silently and unnoticed.

"Normally I would let you have your way with him… But this is the one we've been waiting for…" Ame-Warashi stated calmly to her fellow spirits. She does not care for humans, but her compassion for spirits is great so she felt the need to redeem herself with a kinder voice for taking action against them. "He is the protector of the one known as Watanuki Kimihiro!"

The spirits seemed a little confused at first, but then realization began to settle in.

_Protector… _Doumeki relaxed his position, recognizing that he is no longer in danger. He had always thought of himself as the blue eyed wonders' protector and it made him feel like he possessed an important role in the boys' life. But to hear someone else acknowledge him as such made him feel almost intimate.

But more importantly… they were expecting him. Something was up if the spirit world was awaiting his arrival…

"Of course the spirit world is aware of the death of Watanuki Kimihiro-kun…" Doumeki glanced around for an owner to the voice that rang throughout the land before turning around and looking up at the glowing nectar tree. "He has touched many of us in the spirit world, so it is natural that we would be aware of his death…"

Had the tree just read his mind? His only reply was the warm glow of the tree; it almost appeared to be smiling at him. He wondered if perhaps this tree would know what is happening to Watanuki…

It was killing him to not know. His friend was in danger, he could feel it… But he couldn't do anything to help him because not a single soul would tell him what had happened and where he is…

He could feel his heart wrench. _Watanuki…_

"What do you know about the circumstances of his death?" Doumeki asked the tree with a new found passion, not wanting to waste any more time. He had never felt so strongly about anything in his life. He always felt the immense urge to save Watanuki when he was in danger… but the fact that he wasn't even sure what was the matter was killing him. He didn't want the boy who shared his right eye to be in any pain, ever… And he'd see sure to it.

He clenched his fist.

"You will find out soon enough…" Another that wouldn't speak…

Kudakitsune nuzzled Doumeki's cheek as a sign of comfort. It had been unnaturally quiet… possibly because it wasn't Doumeki that the little creature had grown to love. A strange though occurred to Doumeki and he looked at the nearly eyeless fox wrapped around his neck…

Did kudakitsune know what happened to Watanuki?

…

Even if it did, it couldn't tell the archer… It couldn't speak.

"However… we can show you where he is." That was a start, Doumeki nodded.

The spirits started to move into a line, spreading themselves around the tree in a circular pattern, encasing Doumeki and kudakitsune within.

"Fellow spirits who have gathered today have been touched by a human boy with a certain gift and we mourn his loss… Never has the death of a human become such a tragedy to some in the spirit world… It is our desire to aid his friend in the rescue of someone who is special to us all…"

Doumeki looked around at each and every spirit that had gathered there… Of course there was Ame-Warashi standing next to the ever-quiet Zashiki-Warashi. The girl had been giving him nervous glances ever since he had arrived. He recognized a few that he had experienced himself and a few that had been described to him by the boy. He had always known how Watanuki affected others with his great passion and oddities, but to see them gathered around to actually return the favor was marvelous. To hear them talk about what Watanuki had done for them made him proud of the blue eyed boy… prouder than he already had been.

"Let us summon our strength." The spirits began to close their eyes, holding out their arms… if they had any to do so.

It was silent, except for a low rumbling sound that could almost go undetected. A few pebbles started to bounce on the ground and kudakitsune tilted its head at them and then gazed up as a light breeze started to pull on it.

Suddenly a circular blue spell opened up underneath their feet, encompassed by the ring of spirits. The breeze became stronger and started to pull harder on Doumeki and kudakitsune until Doumeki realized that he was being pulled off the ground.

He gazed above him only to realize the gaping crater high up in the sky, sucking him up at a fast pace. He wondered where he'd be taken. Would Watanuki be there waiting for him? He was doubtful.

_Wait for me Watanuki… _He brought a hand up to his eye.

Suddenly the breeze stopped and several bolts of blue lightening shot out from the hole that was now beginning to close. They missed him on the first try, but started to fire in a consistent manner.

The archer felt his stomach shift as he began to fall towards the ground again. What was wrong? At this point there was nothing he could do so save himself from the impact of the ground he was about to face.

"She's interfering!"

"The gate is closing! We need to get him up! Up!"

_She?_ _… _

Suddenly Doumeki felt a pressure on his wrist as he stopped falling, snapping him from his thoughts. His shoulder popped at the sudden stop and he tried to shift it a little to comfort it as he looked up at his savior.

Ame-Warashi.

She had an intense look on her face as she opened up her umbrella, trying to fend off the bolts of lightning that poured out of the closing hole. She was truly tough. Doumeki silently admired her ability to fight with one arm while towing him up with the other.

She needed to get him in the gates; there was just no other option. Her sight was starting to become blurry as she became dizzy from exerting herself.

Then she was hit. A ray of lightning got by her umbrella shield and she yelped in pain and surprise. Clenching her eyes shut, in a last ditch effort, she flung Doumeki towards the black hole in the sky, hoping he would miss the lightening and get there.

Doumeki folded his arms at his side and kudakitsune straightened itself against the wind in order to reduce resistance of the air. He kept his eyes on the hole, hoping that the lightning wouldn't hit him as well. However, he could feel himself start to slow down far before the entrance of the hole. Soon he would start to fall again.

He waited.

Then suddenly he felt the force of the air increase as his speed grew faster and faster. He looked down and he could see Zashiki-Warashi look at him with pleading eyes, her hands out in front of her emitting a blue aura.

He once again returned his focus to the closing hole that had almost disappeared. He wasn't sure that even if he did make it to where the gate was he would be able to even fit through… Would this be his only chance to do it? … He couldn't risk that. He'd find a way.

The lightning stopped as the hole tightened. Possibly because the hole was now too small to let such a force go through, or perhaps this _she_ has decided that the archer would never make it before the portal closed. Doumeki was about ten feet from it when it became the size of him. By the time he go there it would be too small!

He felt a flash of panic course through him, and all he could think of was Watanuki's smiling face… He needed to get back that smile…

He was there, but only to discover the portal had become the size of one of his hands… He couldn't waist any time. He had to try.

He put his hand inside the hole only to find that it's inner walls were solid feeling… Stretchy almost. So he forced his other hand into it and proceeded to pull it open… It was tough and resisting his force, almost like stringing a new bow that has not been worn in yet.

He was getting tired from wrestling with the resisting hole. He couldn't give up though.

Watanuki's smiling face.

Watanuki yelling at him.

Watanuki.

With a sudden surge of adrenaline, the archer found himself stretching open the gate enough to get in a leg and then his body, letting it close behind him, and he was gone.

Zashiki-Warashi heaved a sigh when she let her hands down, holding them to her chest, almost as if she were praying.

"Good luck," she whispered. She had wanted so desperately to go and save her love as well, but Ame-Warashi and the karasutengu had talked her out of it. The last time she had tried to save Watanuki, she had ended up getting captured herself. She would only get in the way, she had decided, so all she could do now was pray.

"He will save him."

Zashiki-Warashi turned around at the voice only to see Ame-Warashi, clutched the tattered fabric near her stomach.

"I hope," was all she could muster up before tears started to threaten her big, glassy eyes.

"It won't be easy… not when he finds out what _she _has done. She will make it hard for him if she has already started her prevention…" Ame-Warashi knitted her brows close together in concern for the two boys who shared their eye.

Zashiki-Warashi gave Ame-Warashi a saddened look before moving closely to her and putting a hand on her shoulder and a hand on her stomach.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly.

Ame-Warashi looked at her innocent friend. She had not cared whether or not the human had fallen or not, but without that human… the other couldn't be saved… It would have killed Zashiki-Warashi if her only hope had been destroyed and she couldn't bear to see that. She did it all for her.

She nodded in reply and started to guide her blue haired friend away.

000

* * *

Next Chapter: Worldly Wonders

A/N: Again sorry that the next chapter won't come out until May probably. I just won't have time to do it at all. But I promise I will dish it out as soon as possible! Thank you so much for reviewing even though I haven't updated in a while! 


	7. Worldly Wonders

heavenlyHOLiC

Disclaimer: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

Summary: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

Warning: Possible language, possible violence, shounen-ai implications

Pairing: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

A/N: Haha I lied… lol Sorry, I had a snow day and wrote ¾ of this and then I had a night off due to lots of hard work and voila! Here is your next chapter. Thanks to those who reviewed!!! And if you haven't, please do!!  Thanks!!

000

A forbidden scent filled his nostrils… It was so light and sweet, almost if it were natural in the air. It was calming… He didn't want to get up. He felt like he couldn't move even if he had wanted to. All he wanted to do was lay there and inhale this blissful scent…

_Do you think I'm pretty?_

He sat up immediately. He looked around at the sereneness of the world before him.

The meadows were filled with incredibly pink flowers that seemed to move on their own as a light, scent filled breeze fluttered by. The sky was dotted with pastel clouds and was as yellow as in a sunset and the water in the stream at the bottom of the rolling plain hills was as clear as a cloudless day.

It was quiet and gave off a relaxing, yet eerie aura.

Doumeki scanned the area for life and found none except for the miles of flowers.

Finding nothing, he got to his knees and propped himself to his feet. He felt something shift near his neck and realized that kudakitsune was still latched on. It appeared to be sleeping…

He poked it with a finger to see if it would wake up but all it did was yawn and give a "chu". The archers' eyes squinted in observation… Kudakitsune would not be resting under its own will if it knew Watanuki were in danger. It wanted to come on the rescue mission after all…

Something was wrong and he bet it had to do with the calming scent in the breeze. It was almost like a narcotic… He even felt a bit light headed, but wasn't sure if it was due to everything that had happened in the past two days or something more sinister…

… He had to be careful.

Taking kudakitsune and placing it safely in his pocket, away from harm for the time being, he stalked off into the field of dreams in search of any sign of Watanuki.

111

It had been hours since he had left the spot where he had first arrived. Doumeki had been traveling along side the stream so as not to get lost, trying to find some way out of this forsaken place so that kudakitsune could hopefully wake up.

He could feel the little creature shift around in his pocket and he had to admit that the little furry fox was pretty damn cute. It always seemed to know where Watanuki was and when it found him… the boy usually ended up on the ground or flailing about like a possessed fish.

The archer felt the barest of tugs on the corners of his lips when he thought about it. But now was not the time for silly thoughts however. Once Watanuki was safe again, he could rest easy and enjoy the real thing.

Nothing seemed to change as he walked. The flowers were still pink. The sky was still yellow. The sun never moved and the stream never stopped.

It was hard to stay awake with the intoxicating scent… He had tried to cover his mouth and nose so as to block most of it out, but he soon came to realize that the smell has been branded onto his clothes and had in doing so, inhaled more than he could handle.

Where was he going anyway?

He had no idea. He wasn't even sure what was happening… And this _she_ that was mentioned. Who was that? Was it the person who attacked him in the spirit world? …

…

Was it the person he had seen through his right eye? … Was she with Watanuki? Was she the one who stole him?

What if she hurt him? Was that why he could see those flashes? Had she done something to him? …

He needed to get there. His fist clenched and his brows narrowed slightly as the thoughts rattled through his brain and he trudged on.

Then, something caught his eye… Something large and dark compared to the rest of the world around him.

As he drew near, he could make it out to be a wooden cabin of sorts. It didn't look like anybody lived there, but it didn't look rundown either. The windows looked dim and some of the wood looked fairly old, but was not beginning to rot. The wooden shutters were still intact and over all it looked normal enough, save for the lack of existence within it and the place that it was located.

Doumeki stopped in front of the place on the opposite side of the stream and he looked at it up at down. There was something odd about it other than the fact that it was the only sign of life. The aura it gave off didn't settle right with the dark haired boy and he decided to take a step forward.

In his opinion, the more abnormal things seemed, the closer he was to finding Watanuki.

The blue-eyed boy always had a knack for attracting strange beings, something he could never quite understand himself. He and Watanuki had first met when they were younger, in grade school he thought.

They had gotten into a fight… He wasn't sure what about, but it wasn't a pleasant fight. He didn't recall having any mal intent towards the glasses clad boy, so it led him to the idea that the fight might have been a misunderstanding… He doesn't really remember.

It could be the reason however as to why Watanuki disliked being around him… It hurt him a little bit whenever Watanuki had complained about being partnered up with him, but it didn't bother him too much because he knew of their odd relationship with each other and he kind of enjoyed it… No, he loved it. It was part of his life.

Watanuki would make the food and Doumeki would eat it. In return, Doumeki would save Watanuki whenever and wherever. He would do anything…

Would he really?

When had he actually started to personally care what happened about the blue eyed wonder? This all originally began as a job from Yuuko-san… But everything he has done for him seems to have… more meaning behind it.

He stepped into the stream and listened to the little pitter it made as he sloshed through it, not paying any mind to it. It was a small one so a few steps and he was clear onto the dry flowers again.

The archer nonchalantly made his way to the cabin door, pausing before it. He wondered if Watanuki was inside of it… He remembers that it had been dark in his right eye when it acted up, so he assumed Watanuki was in some place that was dark.

He peered in through the windows. It seemed dark enough so it was a likely place to start.

Suddenly he felt an odd presence with him and something wet dripped on his face…

He turned around… The stream was gone… But in it's place was an enormous being consisting of water, he assumed, from the stream. The water bubbled around inside of it like a fountain.

He looked at it for a minute and it reared up a long, whip like arm… He must have disturbed a water spirit when he trudged through the stream. He slowly moved his hand for the doorknob. It was probably best to go inside.

It unleashed and Doumeki made a break for the door, opening and shutting it behind him quickly, leaning against the door hoping to keep it shut from the water pressure hitting the other side.

…

But the blow never came… In fact…

Doumeki turned to face where the door had been and found nothing but a blank space. He looked around him and realized that he was in a world of nothing. This place was most definitely odd… and dangerous… He wondered how Watanuki was fairing in this place.

_Click._

There was the sound of a light coming on and suddenly Doumeki was no longer in a dark abyss. He turned around and suddenly he was in a whole new world it seemed.

He was standing on a cobblestone road that seemed to go on forever. It continued so far that Doumeki couldn't even see the end of it. Lining it all the way were empty looking houses made from straw and stone that seemed to stretch to the sky for an eternity.

The small cracks of alleyways in between the houses seemed incredibly dark and even though the archer could see, it seemed as though the place was still somewhat dim… It felt heavy with mystery and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on.

But he needed to find Watanuki.

The dark haired archer stepped forward and continued down the long road to nowhere. It was like the field of flowers, except gloomier.

He started to wonder what this _she_ was like… He had come to the conclusion during his mystical flower walk that this person was the one who had taken Watanuki away. Was she a spirit? Was she a ghost? Why did take Watanuki away?

His mind was clouded with thoughts and all he could keep doing was walk forward.

Some time passed and like before, nothing seemed to change at all. Occasionally he would pass an inlet, which held a statue in a pose. It was always a man with a sword, never the same position. He could have sworn that the eyes were following him.

_Tip-pa Tap-pa Tip-pa Tap-pa_

The archer stopped. If his hearing wasn't mistaken, it almost sounded like there was someone there with him… He took another few steps forward.

_Tip-pa Tap-pa Tip-pa Tap-pa_

There were the echoes again… Maybe they were just echoes? … He listened closer.

_Tip-pa Tap-pa Tip-pa Tap-pa_

They were off a bit. Sometimes the echoes would coincide with his steps. He was definitely not alone… He stopped and the echoes stopped. He waited…

He picked up his foot and made like he was going to start walking again, but not putting his foot down.

_Tip_

The archer's eyes narrowed and he looked down at the ground and they quickly widened when he saw that he was looking at himself. Since when had the ground become mirror like? … It hadn't. It was still definitely cobblestone… Then how was he reflecting?

He looked at himself, pondering this sudden revelation.

Then suddenly the other him smirked, demonstrating his white teeth that Doumeki never showed and he felt himself take a step back.

_What the…?_ The archer thought and watched in bewilderment as the other him lifted himself out of the cobblestone ground with some unseen force. It was almost like someone was beneath him, pushing him up out of the ground.

And then he was face to face with the grinning version of himself. It wasn't a happy or innocent grin. It was one of malicious and conniving intent. His eyes bore into his own and they seemed to twinkle with mischief as an eerie breeze lightly blew its dark locks.

…What was this? Was it a clone? A monster in disguise? …

Suddenly the carbon copy lifted its arms into a stance that was so familiar to the archer… Body turned to the side… Grip firm with the index finger pointed out… Another hand on where the string should be…

Doumeki's eyes narrowed at his doppelganger. _What is it up to?… It has no bow… no arrow._ He did not move from his spot when the fake pulled back his arm as if he were preparing to fire an arrow, the smirk never leaving its handsome features.

The copy made a move as if he were letting go of an arrow and a sudden flash of instinct caused Doumeki to quickly dodge to his left, throwing himself to the ground. On contact with the cool cobblestone, he quickly got to his knees, ready for another attack.

He gritted his teeth as he locked eyes with his double who continued to widen his smirk. Neither broke eye contact until the copy let his eyes drift to a rip in the shoulder of Doumeki's clothing…

_That was careless…_ Doumeki put a hand to his wounded shoulder. It would heal and wouldn't cause much damage, but if he had waited a second longer, that could have been his head or his neck… Though its form was none compared to his own, it still posed a deadly threat.

Again the arms were raised and poised, ready for another release… He had to move at the precise moment or he would get hit easily…

The other's arms were steady and the smile gave no gain as to when he would release the invisible arrow. He would have to pay special attention to the hands and find something to defend himself with once he got moving.

The archer's eyes narrowed when the copy's fingers twitched.

_Now._

Doumeki shot up off of the ground and broke for the other end of the never-ending street, listening to the _ting_ that the invisible weapon made as it hit the spot where he had just been.

The copy grinned and watched Doumeki gain a head start before it put its head down, a slight grimace blazing across its face. Then suddenly the clothing on its back burst into shreds in the back as two large dark wing emerged from its well-toned back, bat like in shape and texture. It took in a deep breath as if it had been caused pain by this and looked up at where the archer was running… he hadn't gotten two far.

The winged copy took a few flaps of its enormous wings, stirring up some dirt and sand that lay on the stone before it gained enough lift to rise from the ground.

Doumeki looked behind him to see if the doppelganger was in pursuit and suddenly, it was almost as if he had covered no ground at all… The copy was flying through the air at a comfortable speed, posing for another launch.

The archer's eyes narrowed and he turned forward again. There was no time to be worrying about what's behind him. He had to just keep running as fast as his legs would take him.

_Whizu!_

Doumeki heard an arrow zip by his head.

_Whizu!_

And another.

_Whizu!_

One more.

_Whizu! … Whizu! … Whizu! … Whizu!_

It was turning into an all out assault! Arrow after arrow was being shot and with no cover, all Doumeki could do was run.

He ran for an end that he couldn't see and with heavy legs, his breathing became louder and more staggered… He became dizzy as his head swept from side to side, looking for something that he could throw, something that he could shoot or shield himself with. He couldn't keep running from the seemingly limitless supply of invisible weapons that were being fired at him.

He had to keep going though because if he stopped, there would be now way to rescue Watanuki.

His blood boiled and he felt a numbing surge through his legs and the strength to keep pushing his body past its limit flooded through him.

What could he use?

Stone… it was embedded in the ground, he couldn't get to that.

Straw… would do no damage.

His eyes kept scanning briefly.

Sword… Sword!! The swords in the statues that he had been passing! Maybe they came out of the statues…

Doumeki decided it was worth a shot. He was making no progress running into infinity. He would have to be quick about it though; there wouldn't be much time to pull it out.

Plan set.

Doumeki made a sudden, painful stop, causing him to jam his knee and ankle. The copy moving at such a high speed continued forward. _This is it._ Doumeki turned around as quick as possible and made an all out bound on his injured leg for the statue he had seen almost moments back.

Things moved slowly for him at this point… Maybe it was the adrenaline coursing through his veins? The excitement that this death defying chase through the empty town… every arrow that whizzed by… every second he couldn't see… every moment that he could end up losing to rescue Watanuki… It all muddled into a ball of catastrophic emotion that seemed to form an abnormal amount of adrenaline in his body.

He could feel his heart beat as the copy turned around, ready for another series of blows.

_Ba-dum ba-dum._

He leapt for it, the statue in his sight.

_Ba-dum ba-dum._

His arm stretched as far as it humanly could reach, the tendons pulling vigorously at each other…

_Ba-dum ba-dum._

He could almost feel it.

_Whizu!_

A sliver of his hair fell to the side of his head as one of the arrows ran by and his hand collapsed onto the knob of the sword.

As quick as the cool feeling of the metal handle flowed through is skin, he drew the sword with an incredible force, the brittle stone statue that once cupped it in its own hands crumbling down by the archer's feet.

He moved the sword in front of his face to deflect the oncoming slot of invisible arrows.

He was never quite good with a sword; it wasn't his weapon of choice. He had learned a few basic skills when he was in his preteen ages, but had since then, relied on the bow and arrow as his companion. However, the sword would have to make due.

The copy looked shocked for a few seconds when it realized that Doumeki had obtained a weapon. Deciding it was no use against it, the copy replaced the surprise look with a smile and a brief flap of its wings.

The archer wielding a sword struck a pose, sword in front, both hands firmly, yet loosely so as to not yield stiff motion to his movements. The copy found its form and made a move to strike.

Doumeki quickly deflected the arrow and charged, making a swipe at the fake, only to have it dodge… and suddenly Doumeki was on the offensive as the copy pulled and released at a ridiculous rate. All he could do was back up to try and give himself more time to react to the fast onslaught.

The doppelganger flapped its wings and its face slowly faded into a look of disgust as all of its invisible arrows were being deflected by the slim sword that Doumeki possessed. It was frustrating to say the least.

He was getting nowhere with this. Deflect. Deflect. Deflect. He could do it all day long, but this would not find Watanuki. He was growing angry and annoyed with this routine.

Suddenly he felt something sturdy behind his back. He turned briefly, shocked to find a wooden door about half his size with a rusty green handle. Back to the fight at hand.

That was not there before… Was it the end of this ridiculous town? … Go for it.

Suddenly an arrow was deflected back at the copy creature and it leaned back to dodge its own attack, leaving it open and vulnerable. Taking this initiative Doumeki thrust the sword at the fake like a spear as the copy lifted its head back up.

Its eyes widened as the edge of the blade grazed its cheek, drawing the faintest droplets of blood.

The archer grabbed the handle on the door and opened it, falling backwards into it and kicking it shut with a leg once in, and then it was gone.

The copy stared at the door for a moment longer and took a thumb to the cut on its cheek, swiping it before grimacing and flapping towards the black infinity of the sky and disappearing.

112

He sat on his rear for a moment, breathing heavily and staring at the black space where the door to the town had once been.

He was exhausted… His breathing was starting to even out… It was time to get moving again.

Heavily hoisting himself to his feet, Doumeki turned around only to see a pale figure in the distance. It was somewhat blurred, but he could tell who it was no matter how far away he was.

A groan sounded throughout the black abyss and the figure lifted his head.

…

Doumeki's heart pounded louder and harder than it had when the he had been desperately searching for a weapon and he clenched his fist tightly to try and calm his fluttering heart.

Before him in all his missed glory…

Those irresistible blue eyes fluttered open and focused on his own…

"D-doumeki?"

…He could breath again.

"Watanuki…"

000

Next Chapter: Missing Member

A/N: Not actually sure how this came out, but I'd love to hear your feedback on it, good or bad! Thanks and remember to review!! XD Next chapter will be in May at the earliest lol I get out of school soon, so I'll be able to work on it more:)


	8. Missing Member

heavenlyHOLiC

Disclaimer: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

Summary: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

Warning: Possible language, possible violence, shounen-ai implications

Pairing: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

A/N: AAAAAAAH!!! I'm so glad that I'm almost out!! I'll be done and home until next semester starting Friday! As celebration I wrote this chappy for ya!! Hope you like it. I finished plotting out the rest of the story btw so if you want to know what is in store you can read at the bottom (don't worry, there's no plot spoilers .)

000

"D-Doumeki? … What are you doing here?"

He was okay.

The glasses clad boy sat up straight, his arms behind his back. He appeared to be sitting on a chair in the blackness.

He didn't care what the boy was saying. He couldn't care _less_ about what was coming out of his mouth… All that mattered at the moment was that his lips were moving… That the blue eyes were open… That he was breathing…

The archer found himself moving towards the person he had been searching for, the person who's eye was bounded to his own.

Watanuki looked up at Doumeki with confusion, though he knew in the back of his mind why the archer was there. It puzzled him still.

"… I suppose even morons can get caught by dead things…"

…

That blew a nerve. It's not hard to get caught by "dead things" because they're dead and they can do whatever they want! But wasn't that the insult? To say that Watanuki was dumber than a moron? Oh how he wanted to wring his neck!!

Watanuki seethed a moment more… And here he thought Doumeki would be civil towards him.

"WHY YOU!! YOU'RE THE MORON!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! I DIDN'T EVEN GET A 'HELLO'!!" _Pop_. The sound of ears being plugged and a small smile being formed that angry eyes couldn't see, "THAT'S WHAT NORMAL PEOPLE DOO!!"

There was a sudden crash as the blue-eyed boy wailed out his last word. Doumeki turned in his direction to make sure he was okay… But the flicker of worry in him stopped when he realized what was going on.

The sweet sound of his laughter was like music to his ears.

"K-kudakitsune!!" Watanuki laughed as the large fox mauled him. It must have woken up and snuck out of his pocket when he was enjoying the feeling of having found the flailing boy.

He took in the moment and relished silently in it. The overwhelming feeling of knowing that he is able to see Watanuki again calms him and at the same time makes his heart race like it never has before.

"So where exactly is this place?" Doumeki decided to ask, interrupting the little reunion between the fox and the boy.

Watanuki tried to sit up, pushing kudakitsune off of him lightly, the fox still obviously excited to see him. His glasses were askew and his hair was slightly messed up. A light blush formed across his face from the lack of air he had been receiving during the attack.

He hauled himself to his feet and brushed himself off as kudakitsune nuzzled its head against his leg.

"I'm not actually sure about that," he fixed his glasses. "I just remember waking up here… I think it's part of the spirit world though, just in a different part…" He looked around.

"Are you okay?" He said it as nonchalantly as possible. Obviously he was worried, but he didn't want to let his extreme happiness get the better of him.

"Uhh…" he was a little caught off guard, but decided to go along with the change of topic, "I'm fine I guess. I've just been sitting here the whole time."

"She didn't hurt you?" Doumeki continued to question.

"If you mean the woman who brought me here, no, she hasn't. She just keeps on coming here and looking at me…" Watanuki rubbed the back of his head and looked around to see if she was there. "I was afraid at first, but she hasn't done anything harmful to me yet…" The archer nodded, acknowledging the fact that Watanuki was indeed all right.

There was no way he could express his relief. The archer was still having problems accepting the fact that Watanuki was here with him…

He just wanted to reach out and touch… He stopped himself when he realized that he actually was reaching his hand out.

What had he been thinking?

"Still…" Watanuki's voice brought him from his thoughts to the lovely blue eyes that were directed away from him as soft pale hands grazed through the fur of kudakitsune.

"Still, I don't think we should stay here much longer… She might come back and I'm not sure what she wants." Doumeki had to agree with this. He would prefer to leave without any more conflict.

"Let's go."

Doumeki turned and Watanuki made a small gasp.

The deep dark brown eyes and the pale, clammy skin were unmistakable.

Long black hair traveled down her back and front, parted neatly in the middle. It was hard to mistake her for a dead person other than how cold she looked. It was almost like if she were to breathe, a thin layer of frost might develop.

Her white dress hung loosely off of her shoulders and was baggy around her small chest. Doumeki narrowed his eyes.

"Go?" She spoke. Her voice was cool and calm, with a hint of nervousness that made Doumeki uncomfortable and Watanuki took a step back. It was the kind of nervous shake in a person's voice that signaled a stress that could make them unpredictable, and that made both very uncomfortable.

Doumeki could hear kudakitsune's low growl behind him, ready for anything. He could only imagine what the fox looked like with teeth bared and claws poised for an attack. As cute as it was in its pipe form and as playful in its larger form, it was still a spirit that had the ability to cause a lot of damage.

Suddenly she was directly in front of Doumeki, peering up at him with her sunken looking eyes. The archer couldn't help but be startled by the sudden action and he felt himself too take a step backwards.

A light hand made its way to his chest.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" she asked in a whispery willowy voice that sounded as every bit deadly as a pit viper.

What was he supposed to answer to that?

Watanuki watched the two of them, fist clenched at his side. What did that woman want from them? She had kidnapped Watanuki, but at the same time she had done nothing too him, nor had she said anything…

She just watched as he watched now, waiting to see what would happen to them.

He gulped and hoped Doumeki would just please her, maybe she wouldn't do anything to them.

"No."

"Oi!" They were dead. Watanuki was a tad bit annoyed by the decisive answer.

Her face made a noticeable darkening and her fist became heavy on the archers chest and she gripped at the clothing tightly. She snapped her head up at him and screamed in his face.

In a flash, kudakitsune made a grasp for her arm and clenched on tightly with its long narrow jaws.

"Kudakitsune!" Watanuki called after it and a shriek came from the woman's mouth.

"Run Watanuki!" Doumeki took the foxes' attack to his advantage and snatched the shocked boy's hand in his own and made a break for it, not sure where he would head to in the darkness.

A small yip escaped the fox as the woman threw it to the ground.

"Kudakitsune!" Watanuki held out a hand that said 'come,' to it and seeing its beloved's hand, it made its way to its feet again, running after the two.

The woman had a fierce look upon her face.

"I will break you two apart!!!!" she bellowed out into the abyss, her voice echoing and cracking.

Doumeki continued to run, holding Watanuki's hand with his own while Watanuki looked back to make sure Kudakitsune was following.

"Look out!" Doumeki's eyes widened a tad as a purple whole widened up under his step and he could feel himself fall through, pulling the blue eyed rescue down with him.

"Ah!" Watanuki made a surprised sound as he felt his body fall down suddenly.

Kudakitsune made a jump for the hole and followed suite.

The hole sealed over with a flat light and was no more.

The woman stared at the empty spot where the three were once standing. Her hand clenched tightly and she turned away, disappearing into the darkness.

111

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Watanuki's scream could be heard from miles away Doumeki was convinced. He just instinctively shoved a finger in his ear when the first sound of noise was conceived.

It was a justifiable scream however. The hole had eventually led them out into the air and they were currently falling to the ground… Though the only one who seemed worried about it was Watanuki. Kudakitsune seemed absolutely fine.

He was glad that the fox had made it through and he owed one to it for saving him back there. He wasn't sure what the woman could have done to him, but it probably wouldn't have been good for his health or existence.

THUD!

The sound of Watanuki landing on his rear was loud. Louder than it probably should have been able to make.

_Pit_.

Was the sound of Doumeki landing gracefully, a technique he had learned at the shrine when he was in his younger years.

_Pat_.

Was the sound of Kudakitsune landing quietly on all four paws, very catlike even though foxes weren't related to cats.

"Owww…." Watanuki moaned as he rubbed his sore rear, struggling to stand up after the fall. He opened his blue eyes and they met with amber ones and for a split second he though he saw worry before a few choice words cleared up the misconception.

"Moron." Doumeki stated before turning away and taking in the surroundings, not paying attention to the yelling going on behind him. They were in what appeared to be a forest with some form of tall green stalk that scaled to the sky.

"You're the moron! It's _inhuman_ to be able to land from a fall like that without getting hurt! Inhuman!! Do you hear me?! Bastard!"

It was starting to feel normal again. It was starting to feel like everything would be all right once more. It felt … nice.

"Aaah, you piss me off so bad!" Watanuki started to wander around the landing sight, " You're not even listening to me are you!" He made his way over to a stalk, "I just want to-!" He trailed off and pulled back his leg and released it forward again with all his might, kicking the stalk. He puffed and huffed now that his anger had been let out and everything seemed okay for the time being.

Then the stalk started to shake and Doumeki looked over to where Watanuki was standing. He didn't seem to be in any imminent danger until something yellow caught his eye and he made a run and dive for the blue eyed boy.

The sudden impact of Doumeki's larger form knocked the air out of him for a split second he thought… Or maybe it was the position they had landed in? Doumeki's right leg was in between his own and the archer was sweating slightly, breathing heavier than normal and the close contact was too much for the ghost seer to bear and a faint blush crept to his face.

"WHAAAA!!! What are you doing?! I don't swing that way! Maybe you do… But I don't!! I'm so glad Himawari-chan was not here to see this!" was how it came out though.

Doumeki got up, seeming as though he hadn't noticed the position they were in. Though that was farther from the truth. He hadn't thought of the consequences of knocking the boy down originally, but when he found himself on the ground with Watanuki underneath him, a certain part of his stomach churned and he thought he would be sick… But at the same time, he thought his heart would fly from his chest… Best not to draw attention to it though.

The archer turned around to look at where Watanuki had been standing.

A large yellow ball was in its place. Kudakitsune was sniffing at it before it sneezed and some of the yellow dust on the ball flew off.

Watanuki hadn't even realized that the yellow ball of powder had fallen. It looked so familiar… Like something he probably saw on a daily basis… He thought about it momentarily. Then it struck him.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Doumeki nodded, examining it up more closely.

"Is that… a ball of pollen?" He looked at it in awe for a moment longer and then his eyes got wide and he covered his nose with his hand with a horrified look. "I'm allergic to pollen!"

"Uwaaaaaaaahhhh…" A loud groan shook the three from their thoughts and they all looked up as the green stalk started to shake and move.

From the heights of the canopy, a reddish orange leaf poked through, and then another… and another.

Doumeki's eyes widened slightly, "A flower…" He looked around them. The place was not consisted of trees, but instead, large flowers. This place kept getting stranger and stranger for him… Though… life with Watanuki was always strange.

"Whooo's doooowwwwnn theeeeerrree…" the voice was low and drawn out.

"UWAAAAAAH!!!" Watanuki shrieked, "It has a face!"

Indeed it did. The giant flower grimaced at the comment; the leaves became shriveled looking, almost as if it were annoyed.

"Of course I do!" The flowers voice became sharper and it spoke more quickly, an obvious sign of its annoyance, "How rude of you to say such a thing! And to kick me as well! You intruders!!"

Doumeki was all prepared to run. It didn't look like it would be a fun trip through the woods that day.

"Get them!" That was the signal.

Watanuki picked up on it too as soon as the red flower head disappeared into the canopy created by the stalk leaves and the ground began to shake. This wouldn't be good.

Thousands of yellow pollen balls started to fall towards the ground and the trio made a run for it, trying to dodge the pollen as best as they could, running for an end they couldn't see, yet again.

Doumeki was starting to realize a pattern here and was starting to think that maybe it was intended that they give up in the direction they were running and try another way, the wrong way so that they would be forever lost in this labyrinth. But he wasn't about to do that.

112

It had been nearly half an hour before the three companions had started to see daylight break through the angry stalks.

When they had emerged through the thicket they ran straight down a grassy hill to clear blue lake. Watanuki fell over and Kudakitsune laid on its side, panting to try and cool down its body. Doumeki fell to his knees, hunched over and tried to regain his breathing under control.

Watanuki looked behind him and saw the angry forest of giant flowers waving like see of colors and he couldn't be more thankful to be out of there. He sat up, his breathing slowing back to the norm and he looked at Kudakitsune who was still lying down and at Doumeki was sitting up right now, still breathing a bit heavier.

Watanuki felt his breathing become more shaky and deep sounding as he started with a small laugh. Doumeki looks over as Watanuki's little giggle turned into a full burst.

"What's so funny?" He was curious.

"I don't know, it's nothing," he continued to laugh anyways. Sometimes Watanuki amazed him.

The laughter died down and Kudakitsune sat up slightly and licked at its paw.

"Did you get hurt back there? When she threw you?" Watanuki took notice of the action and Kudakitsune looked up at him for a moment before pouncing on him and licking him all over. The fox was extremely happy to know that its favorite person was worried about it.

"Glad to know that you're okay! Hahaha!"

The laughter started up again and Doumeki kicked back and relaxed, taking in the scenery. It was good to hear laughter again. He hadn't heard it for a while…

"It's nice." He found himself saying.

Watanuki looked up from his tongue kisses and kudakitsune halted its war tactics. It wasn't something he was expecting, so he sat up, lightly moving kudakitsune off of him.

"What's nice?"

Doumeki wasn't quite sure if he wanted to respond. He had been feeling so strange the past few hours, but he felt that he owed Watanuki an explanation.

"Your laugh," was all the archer said as he turned and locked eyes with the blue-eyed boy.

Watanuki was definitely not expecting that one. As much as he knew through their play fights and dilemmas that Doumeki cared about him, he never thought that the dark haired boy would come out and say such a thing. The fact that he was missed by the person who annoyed him most was flattering to say the least, and he wasn't sure how to respond to such a comment.

"Thanks… I guess," a faint embarrassed blush crossed his face.

A comfortable, yet awkward sort of silence fell between the two of them for a few moments. Neither made a move to look at the other as both basked in the comfort of each other's presence.

"We should get going… I want to leave here," Watanuki finally spoke after a while of rest. He had been in this world long enough.

Now, it wasn't that Doumeki disagreed. He had had enough of the place as well, however, he was the least bit inclined to leave.

"No," was all he said.

"What? Why not?!" Watanuki couldn't help but feel a bit of annoyance towards the archer.

"I can't leave… Not just yet." The golden brown eyes kept their mark forward.

"That's why I said!! WHY?!" the last of his patience was slowly leaving his body.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt," there was no way around phrasing it as such. It caught Watanuki in the middle of his rant and appeared to calm him down slightly.

"Eh?"

"If we don't end this now, it's liable that you'll get kidnapped again." Doumeki was dead serious and it made complete sense. If _she_ was left alive and out of line, it's possible that _she_ would come back for Watanuki and they would be at square one again… It's also possible that _she _might hurt Watanuki next time. The archer wouldn't be able to deal with himself if he knew that he let Watanuki's captor free and Watanuki got hurt because of it.

No, it had to be done now.

Watanuki was having a hard time speaking that day. Nothing that came from the archer's mouth made any sense to him emotionally. It didn't sound too out of the ordinary, but at the same time, he couldn't help but sense there was something strange going on with the archer.

"I suppose so…" kudakitsune licked Watanuki's hand and stood up, stretching out.

The glasses clad boy smiled at the fox, "I think Kudakitsune agrees." The fox decidedly attacked its favorite boy again, mauling him with fox kisses. Doumeki took advantage of the attack to take his time standing up.

"Let's go," he said after a few moments.

Kudakitsune stopped its attack again and Watanuki wiped off his face and adjusted his glasses.

Doumeki extended a hand to the blue eyes, which was accepted after a moment of hesitation on Watanuki's part, and the boy was hoisted to his feet.

The three moved on along the lakeside.

113

"Lady in white."

Watanuki looked at Doumeki with a curious look upon his face.

"Lady… in white?"

"Ah…"

"Ah?" Watanuki tilted his head in confusion.

"The lady in white is a legend I heard about from my grandfather."

"Haruka-san?"

"Un." It always sounded so weird to him that Watanuki was on a first name basis with his grandfather whom he had never met outside of a dream.

"When a woman kills herself because her husband or lover was unfaithful to her, she becomes a restless spirit known as a lady in white, or a white lady. She tempts those to be unfaithful to their lovers and if they fall for it, she kills them." Watanuki paled. "At least that's what I heard."

"So what does this have to do with anything?" Watanuki questioned.

"I think that what we're dealing with might be a white lady," Doumeki stated bluntly. He had been pondering it in the back of his head ever since he had first laid eyes on her. The white attire was a dead give away and his suspicions rose when she had tried to tempt him from Watanuki.

"WHAAAT?! Why would she want me then?! She hasn't even tried to tempt me!" Watanuki's wails faded out into the background as the farthest corner in Doumeki's mind was brought forward.

…

Why did she try to tempt him from Watanuki? It wasn't like they were lovers or anything…

Doumeki's narrowed and he took a quick glance behind him.

"Watanuki." The blue-eyed boy stopped his rant and looked at Doumeki. Kudakitsune was already turned around, a low rumble rising in its throat. "Get away."

Two large wings unfolded themselves and stretched out and a handsome smile graced the familiar face.

"Wh-what?" Watanuki exclaimed as he turned around. Auburn eyes met his own, but they were not the same as the ones that he shared with and he took a step back. "What's going on?"

The winged doppelganger crossed its arms with an amused look upon its face.

"My, my…"

000

Next Chapter: Absolute Annihilation

Not sure if that's the actual legend, but that's the gist that I got from it, correct me if I'm wrong. Lol

So basically I plotted everything out and this should cap out at 11 Chapters, the last one being the longest and full of lovely stuff. BUT I've decided not to do something that I REAAAALLLY wanna do in the end because I think it will spoil what I've been writing up to this point. And I'm not gonna say what because it'll ruin it (though I'm tempted lol) So hopefully you guys will like it. Please R&R!!! 


	9. Absolute Annihilation

heavenlyHOLiC

Disclaimer: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

Summary: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

Warning: Possible language, possible violence, shounen-ai implications

Pairing: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

A/N: I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while! I got into a Naruto kick because I've never seen it before so yeah… I just watched 220 eps of Naruto and 17 eps of Naruto: Shippuden including all 3 movies. Yeah, when I watch something I go allllll the way lol So yeah, I'm excited that I only have a few more chapters of this fic to share with you guys  I can't wait to see your reactions to the end, and I'm sure some people might want to hit me, but that's why I'm giving out a bonus chapter at the end of the fic. It's an alternate ending so I don't get the crap beat outta me lol That and it will satisfy my needs as a fangirl XD Enjoy!

000

"My, my…"

Doumeki held out and arm in front of Watanuki as the boy backed up even more. This thing was dangerous, whatever it was.

"There are two Doumeki's?" Watanuki questioned to himself as the other set of amber eyes found his own and gave him a smirk. Watanuki felt like gagging. One bastard was enough… He didn't need two.

"Kudakitsune," the archer's smooth voice was commanding. The fox who had been baring its teeth in defense looked up and licked its lips. "Keep Watanuki safe."

Although the fox couldn't really make any facial expressions of its own, anyone could feel the pleased and prideful aura that it gave off. It seemed happy to be able to help and protect the one it cared for most. The fact that its most prized possession (Watankuki) was being entrusted to it was one of the most gratifying feelings.

"What?! I can take care of my self you idiot! I'm not completely helpless! You're such a bas-," Watanuki obviously didn't take to the idea of being protected. His rant was cut off when the winged archer pointed to the sky with one arm and drew back with the other before lowering it to Watanuki's level. The boy with the glasses gulped and swallowed his words.

He looked down at his side when he felt a tug at his sleeve and an invisible pleading look from kudakitsune. Watanuki glanced up at Doumeki who moved in front of the aim of the winged copycat.

"Go," Watanuki nodded and let himself be lightly tugged along by kudakitsune.

The imposter smirked as Doumeki stared back at it with an intense ferocity that said he would kill if he had to.

And the arrow was released.

111

Watanuki was breathing pretty hard as he ran from the fighting zone, kudakitsune staying close by his side. He was making sure to stay along side the lake so that he wouldn't get separated from Doumeki for too long.

Doumeki…

Watanuki cast a stray glance back in the direction of where he had left the archer. It's not that he was worried or anything… He just wanted to make sure the archer was all right. He was always doing things to save him. Even going as far as coming to the spirit world to rescue him from "Yuuko knows what," suspected to be a "white lady" or something… Watanuki owed him his life and several more.

Doumeki was strong though. Watanuki had faith in that much of him.

They had been running for a while now and Doumeki nor the winged imposter was in sight.

"I think this is far enough," Watanuki warned kudakitsune he was stopping and the fox came to a halt.

There was a soft thud as the blue eyed boy plopped himself on the ground, catching his breath after the run.

"We should rest for now. Otherwise when Doumeki comes back we might slow him down a bit," Watanuki tried to sound as optimistic as possible, though his worrisome nature protruded through. "Thanks for coming with me," Watanuki said lightening his face a bit as he turned and smiled at the fox who seemed just as pleased from the comment.

He hadn't had any time to process what was really going on. The sight of familiar faces seemed too comforting for him and so sudden too…

He hadn't noticed the dark shadow ominously looming over him until he heard kudakitsune's growl.

It was then that he turned around and came face to face with the most bizarre thing he had ever encountered. He wasn't sure what to think of what he saw… He could either run away in fear or just cry for the atrocity that is his life… because in front of him was a …

…

75 ft carp.

…

The carp opening it's enormous mouth and the stench of fish infiltrated Watanuki's poor nose as the fish started to create a ruckus.

No… He would definitely not be able to rest just yet.

112

Doumeki had managed to get out of the way of the first arrow. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to deal with this _thing_. If he only had a bow… That's all he needed.

For now, all he could keep doing was run, like he'd been doing ever since he had gotten to the spirit world. He had been feeling particularly helpless ever since he had rescued Watanuki. He couldn't fight spirits without some form of weapon and he had neglected to take his bow with him, being in such a hurry to rescue the moron who he would give his life to protect.

The archer could easily dodge the invisible arrows… All he had to do was keep his eyes on the angle of the imposters' pointer finger and he was all set. However, it would not solve his problem of ridding himself of the creature. He was in an open field next to a body of water and therefore had no means of accessing any weaponry like before…

The fire of the arrows was growing more rapid he noticed as one grazed his cheek, not enough to draw blood, but enough to scratch up a little skin, exposing some pink flesh underneath.

He looked up and locked eyes with the winged archer who only smirked in response. It seemed as though the imposter thought it had the upper hand on the situation. For some reason that irked Doumeki to no end and he scrunched his face in the slightest manner of annoyance. There was no way that he would lose to another archer… If only he had his bow…

The firing commenced and so did the dodging. It carried on in this helpless manner for some time more before Doumeki heard a _slosh_ of sorts and felt the coolness of water seep in through his right shoe. He glanced back a bit and noticed that he was at the edge of the water.

His eyes widened a bit. Was the imposter trying to back him up into the water where he couldn't dodge as easily? He hadn't even noticed since he was too deep in thought of how he would get to the flying creature…

He inwardly cursed himself and the imposter.

Shit!

He turned quickly towards the water, falling to his knees. The imposter had taken that split second Doumeki had taken to notice his current situation to attack the hopeless archer.

His knees and hands were cold and wet in the clear water of the lakeside.

The now bloodied scrape on his cheek stung a little and he made the barest of winces at the water that was slowly starting to settle from his disturbance of it.

Then something caught his eye. A glimmer of light in the reflection of the imposter now hovered above him.

_Was that-?_

"Goodbye," it said, arrow positioned above the true archer followed by a quick release.

113

It was an absolutely hopeless battle. Watanuki had imagined that if he moved further inland away from the water that he would be safe…

However when the giant fish flailed it's caudal fins against the ground it flew up into the air, coming down a little further inland, close to where Watanuki had been running. Watanuki had gotten up, being tugged along by kudakitsune and went for the opposite direction.

Another smack against the ground with its caudal fins and it flew into the air again, leaving two disheveled looking slabs of ground in its wake. It came down nearby in the direction Watanuki was again. It had surprising accuracy for a big clumsy looking fish.

There was no way he could keep running like this anymore and he wondered how Doumeki was fairing… It was because of him that this was happening after all.

With that thought Watanuki came to a skidding halt, eyes hidden for only a second before spinning around with a new fire in them and pointed at the giant flopping carp.

"All right you!!! No more running around! If I make that bastard come and save me again I'll never live it down!" Watanuki shouted at the fish… He felt sort of silly after doing so. One. What was he going to do to an oversized fish? And Two. What kind of fish would understand what he was saying?

The fish made another bounding leap at him and Watanuki escaped from his heroic pose a wail of fear followed by it.

He nearly tripped over kudakitsune as he did so. Kudakitsune… Kudakitsune was there! He had almost forgotten even though he had been tugging him out of danger every time. He felt a pang of guilt, but kudakitsune could definitely be of use.

"Neh! … Kudakitsune! …" he said in between breathes. The fox looked up from its position directly next to its most precious person. "Help me! … Fight?" If the fox's eyes were actually visible, they would have lit up a night sky. It had been waiting for Watanuki to ask it to help him and to protect him. It wanted to know that its help was needed. That it was needed by Watanuki. It wanted to be needed by Watanuki.

With that kudakitsune let out a small growl and a nod as it spun around, its unnaturally long claws scrapping against the ground and Watanuki turned suddenly as kudakitsune stopped.

Without wasting anytime it made a daring leap at the fish who was preparing its next unorganized attack.

Using its long claws it slashed and tore at the scales of the fish, biting down and what it could, trying to pierce and break desperately. The fish became distressed by this attempt and made another smack with its caudal fin, sending it into the air, causing kudakitsune to abandon its post for the time being.

When the fish landed, making another large indent in the ground, kudakitsune gathered heat in its mouth before opening its jaws and releasing a stream of fox fire at the fish. The carp was wailing at this point and trying to avoid touching down for long times so that kudakitsune could resume its attack on it.

Watanuki watched as the fox battled with the carp and was amazed at what it could do. He had no idea how powerful a creature it was and he smiled, cheering it on.

"Ah! You're amazing kudakitsune!" It was the truth. Watanuki was truly amazed with the fox.

Hearing its master's appreciation and faith in words made it even happier. This was a losing battle for the fish. It would finish the battle now and envelop in the glory of Watanuki's praise and affection.

One last time, kudakitsune reared and leapt for the carp, grasping onto its face, digging its claws in all the way. It opened its mouth, gathering a ball of energy into its mouth. The fish went into the air again, the shaking causing kudakitsune to loose its focus.

It was then that it realized the danger it was in. If the fish landed on kudakitsune it was sure to get injured badly or possibly even die. It needed to finish the battle now. Or else Watanuki might be in danger and that was not a chance the fox was willing to make. It had gotten too cocky with the praise.

It opened its mouth again gathering all the energy it could, forming it into a single ball in its jaws as the air rushed by it.

Watanuki's eyes widened as he realized what was going to happen.

"Kudakitsune! Get out of there!" he called out to his friend worried as to what would happen.

The two got closer and closer to the ground…

BOOM!

The fish exploded in a beam of volatile light just feet from the ground and Watanuki cried out for the fox, but he was quickly shut up as he shielded his face from the dust of the blast.

…

When he felt the wind dying down, he made a dash into the cloud of dust that was beginning to clear up, searching for the pipe fox frantically. Calling out to it.

"Kudakitsune!"

He hoped to Yuuko that the fox was all right…

A little noise coming from his side of the thin layer of dust in the air disturbed him from his pessimistic thoughts on the outcome of the battle and he could just barely make out the outline of something about waist high walking towards him.

The dust cleared away and a slightly bloodied kudakitsune stood licking his jaws.

"Kudakitsune!" Watanuki called out and ran over to the tired looking fox and he hugged it around its neck. Kudakitsune reveled in the feeling of being in Watanuki's arms and it licked his cheek. "I'm so glad you're all right."

The fox was ceasing to amaze him. How it had made it out of there alive he was unsure and he didn't really care as long as it was okay.

"Thank you," Watanuki smiled at it and kudakitsune practically smothered him with kisses.

"Are you all right?" a silky deep voice brought the two out of their joyous moment and Watanuki looked up in annoyance. The dust had cleared up and the first visible thing he saw was Doumeki. Some how that irritated him…

"I'm fine thanks to kudakitsune," he chose to smile at the fox instead of expressing his irritation this time.

"How about you? What happened to that winged thing?" Watanuki asked as he readjusted his glasses and stood up. He turned around brushing himself off and continuing to move forward.

Doumeki just smirked in response. He watched Watanuki stalk off, talking to himself, something a glimmer in his auburn eyes as he started to raise his hands.

Kudakitsune felt its lips being pulled back as its teeth bared and a low rumble filled its throat.

"Gaaah!!"

Suddenly blood filled its mouth as it latched onto Doumeki's arm, tearing at the skin and the archer let out a cry of pain causing Watanuki to turn around.

"Kudakitsune!" Watanuki was lost as to what was going on. Why was kudakitsune attacking Doumeki? Though sometimes he thought the moron could use a bite or two, he didn't actually think he deserved that…

Then there was the whir of an arrow and a slim beam pierced Doumeki through the back, causing it to come out the front. Watanuki gasped in surprise as the archer in kudakitsune's grasp let out another painful yell and dissipated into the air.

…

Watanuki just blinked in confusion as another auburn-eyed archer stood a small distance away from where the other Doumeki had stood.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Watanuki demanded, trying to process what had just happened. Was that even Doumeki?

…

Doumeki breathed an inward sigh of relief. He had made it in time…

A stinging pain filled the archers' left shoulder as he fell forward into the water, clutching the now bloodied area. A hole where the invisible arrow had pierced.

_So that was the secret… He had his weapon all along. That was mildly frustrating…_

_In the water, there was the reflection of the imposter's bow, made of chi… He hadn't even thought of it before and wasn't sure it was possible to do so… A bow of chi…_

_He winced at the pain in his shoulder and turned his head to the side so he could breathe. The water around him was turning red as more leaked out. It was not a pretty wound… _

_He could hear the flutter of the imposters' wings… What was it up to? _

…

_It wouldn't… He glanced behind him and sure enough it was headed away from Doumeki in the direction of Watanuki. _

_Damnit… _

_He pushed himself up with his right arm, trying to ignore the rush of pain to his left side. He sat back and took off his black school jacket and tied it as tight as he could around his shoulder using his free hand and his teeth… Hopefully it would help stop the blood flow. _

_After that was set, he got up to pursue as quickly as he could… hoping he could make it in time… _

And that is where his ordeal had left him…

Doumeki ignored Watanuki's question and patted kudakitsune on the head. It had protected the blue-eyed boy well and he gave it a silent commendation.

The silence from the other irked Watanuki to no end… and he had even been worried about him too! He glared at his back as Doumeki continued to move forward…

It was then that he noticed the flower of blood that was stemming from the archer's shoulder.

"Ah! You're hurt!" all of Watanuki's anger quickly washed away, as it always did. He moved up behind Doumeki to take a look at it.

The archer stopped at the mention of his wound and he tightened up when Watanuki's feather light hands grazed his back. The bleeding had slowed down some… That could possibly mean that it was done or he had no more blood to leak out.

Watanuki looked at Doumeki who looked at him over his shoulder.

"…"

"Well? Are you going to let me have a look?" Watanuki said in annoyance. Even when the bastard was injured he still managed to piss him off.

Doumeki decided to comply, though he thought he did a pretty good job at patching it up impromptu. He sat himself on the grass and let the blue-eyed boy fuss about it. He could care less about what he was being lectured on or yelled about… He was just glad that he had made it in time…

Watanuki on the other hand, though complaining and rioting about the moron, inwardly was not feeling so high and mighty… In fact he felt guilty… The wound on Doumeki's shoulder was pretty bad… Not life threatening, but it looked like it had hurt a lot… It was all on his behalf too… Why did that bastard go through so much to protect him?

He had been thinking about it for a while… What was he to Doumeki? What person goes out of their way to give up a part of their eye? Or give up their blood? What kind of person would take hits for another? It hurt him as well knowing that Doumeki risked his life and limb for him… He had come to understand that it was the same for the archer as well…

"Thank you…" Watanuki whispered to himself, not intending for the dark haired man to hear it.

Doumeki's sharp hearing caught the two words and he felt himself relax the slightest as his shoulder was being patched up again, though he said nothing in return. He wasn't sure if Watanuki had actually intended for him to hear it and the fact that his silent response was not followed by wailing was a sign that he was right.

"There, much better than your little piss poor job," Watanuki said, admiring his handiwork. Doumeki stood up and rotated his shoulder a bit.

"Still hurts," he said.

"Of course it'll hurt you moron! Don't do that or you'll open it again!!" Watanuki wailed frantically at him. Even kudakitsune put it its two cents with a yip.

"Let's keep going," Doumeki responded.

"Don't change the subject you-!!" the glasses clad boy shouted at the man who was now walking ahead. "Wait up!!" he ran after the annoying archer so they wouldn't get separated again.

…

114

It had occurred to Doumeki as they were walking that he had no idea where they were going. He wasn't even sure if they could get out of the place without being let out... Maybe it would be a good idea if they just waited around for this _she_ to come get them… Maybe if he purified her they would be released? It was an idea…

Watanuki looked around at the fog that had seemed to be slinking its way across the top of the lake ever so slowly. It was now creeping along the shoreline and the once crystal looking lake was no longer visible.

He didn't have a good feeling about it, but he'd be damned if he would grab onto Doumeki's hand so they wouldn't get separated. The jerk would think he was trying to make a move on him.

Besides… the idiot looked like he was actually thinking for once… He wasn't about to let that rare moment go away.

Soon the fog was upon them. Doumeki had noticed it a while ago and was sensing bad things from it.

"Stick close," Doumeki turned back to tell Watanuki, but stopped when he realized that the blue eyes were no long there, the fox along with him.

…

"Watanuki!" Doumeki gave a small shout for the boy he should be protecting. No answer… The fog was very thick. He could only see a few inches in front of his face. "Oi! Watanuki!"

Suddenly he walked into something fleshy and hard and he took a step back… He could barely make it out, but he was positive.

"Watanuki?" Doumeki questioned… Watanuki made a visible smirk.

…

"I don't need you."

115

It had been a couple of minutes since the fog had rolled in and he hadn't heard Doumeki say anything yet. Not that he was complaining. He couldn't care less if he heard the jerk's voice or not… but they did need to stick together.

"Doumeki?" Watanuki questioned. There was no answer. "Doumeki?"

… Still no answer. He started to speed up subconsciously.

"Doumeki? … Moron!" he was getting frustrated. There was no way he could be lost in the fog could there? Maybe he should have grabbed his hand anyways, even if it had cost him his dignity.

"Oi! Doume-," he was cut off as he crashed into something solid and he fell backwards. He looked up, fixing his glasses that had gone askew while rubbing his bum. There in all his annoying glory was the bastard archer.

He was about to open his mouth to say something to him when…

"I don't want you."

…

Watanuki could feel his heart beating in his ears and his breath hitched.

000

Next Chapter: She Surfaces

Yaaay!! Can you guess what happens next chapter?! It only took me 10 chapters to introduce the bad guy XD With some of these chapters I'm just trying to develop an effect for the last chapter so I'm sorry if they aren't as interesting. I don't know when I'm going to dish out another chapter. It could be tomorrow, it could be 2 months from now. I will finish this eventually though  Thanks for those who reviewed!!


	10. She Surfaces

**heavenlyHOLiC**

Disclaimer: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP.

Summary: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

Warning: Possible language, possible violence, shounen-ai implications

Pairing: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

A/N: Yeah, I'm not expecting this chapter to be very long. This one is more so there for another reason. I can't say what just yet. I'll explain the meaning of these random obstacles after I've completed the fic. O.o Speaking of completion… Next chapter is the last one!! WOOO!!!! Enjoy and don't forget to review!! And homg I am so sorry it took me forever to put this chappy up. I've been working on a Narugaa fic and that's becoming absurdly long and I decided I needed a break from it and finished this chappy. I'm excited since the next chapter is the last one!!  Everything will be answered there. Though it will take me UBER long to update this because I'm in school now and school is priority. Hopes you like!

* * *

"Watanuki?" Doumeki questioned… Watanuki made a visible smirk. 

…

"I don't need you."

Confusion.

"What are you saying?" Doumeki lowered his voice and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I. Don't. Need you," the blue-eyed boy kept his smile visible. "I don't need your help. I never did."

…

It was always a troublesome little thought that he had kept in the back of his mind… Ever since he had made his decision to protect the dark haired boy it had bothered him. It was his own choice to do what he wanted, despite whether or not Watanuki wanted his help or not… The fact of the matter was, did he really need him? As much as Watanuki is weak physically… he has a strong nature and air to him and a will mightier than any he's ever known (once he's decided to do something of course). Things usually worked out in the end for him… So was Doumeki ever really needed by Watanuki?

It troubled him…

To not be needed by Watanuki… It was like something he couldn't even describe. The mind damaging pain that was brought on by those four simple words was incredible. He wasn't even sure what to think anymore. He wasn't sure where to begin… To have this revelation that maybe Watanuki never needed him was mind-boggling.

The little light in the back of his head telling him otherwise was smothered by the pessimistic little train that he had kept in the back of his mind for so long.

He just stared at those cat like blue eyes in minutely visible disbelief.

000

He was about to open his mouth to say something to him when…

"I don't want you."

It was a common idea that always ran through his head. He was finding himself cast away from his lonely life he lead at home into a world of fantasy that he could share with other people. It was a classic fairytale except, this was real life. Being with these people, who seemed to enjoy being around him was truly heart warming for him… But that little thought of not being wanted by these people scared him. He wasn't sure if he could actually go back to living his solitary life like he had done for so many years before.

As much as that thought had hurt him, he kept trying to stay on a positive note of his characteristically pessimistic nature. Saying to himself that he was wanted and that he was liked by these few charming if not downright odd people he surrounded himself with.

One of the reasons that he kept on telling himself as such was because of one of these people. An annoying raven haired bastard who had lead him on to believe that by saving his little life, that he was worth dying for and was hence, wanted. He of all people made Watanuki feel wanted, though he'd never say anything to the arrogant moron… and it was this same moron that plagued his dreams of this horrid haunting thought. He believed that if this one man had said that he did not want Watanuki… that he would have given up all hope in believing that the others had wanted him around as well.

And his little monster of a dream seemed to be coming true.

111

"Watanuki…" Doumeki narrowed his eyes at the boy. It was so unlike him to be calm and say such a thing… perhaps because he really meant it? No. This wasn't Watanuki, it couldn't be. He had told himself for so long that he was needed by Watanuki, there was no way that the blue eyed boy could not need him now.

This was not Watanuki. He told himself… but could he make himself believe that?

"I'm sorry. I don't need you around Doumeki," Watanuki looked off to the side with a slight smile upon his soft features. "I never really did, but now… I felt you should really know how much I hate you." The blue-eyed boy turned his face to meet Doumeki's, a truly joyful smile upon his face…

Doumeki felt himself turn sick.

112

"D-Doumeki…" Watanuki couldn't believe the words. He wouldn't believe them in fact. Instead, he gave a feeble attempt at a smile and a small wave to the amber eyed man in front of him. "Stop joking around you moron…" It was a weak laugh that followed, one that portrayed his lack of confidence in his proposal of falsity.

"I'm not joking. You're annoying and loud… You're weak and not worth the trouble you put me through… I don't even know why I ever bothered." Doumeki looked to the side and ran a hand through his raven locks, a somewhat disgusted look upon his face.

Watanuki froze and his mind went blank.

113

The words that spewed from those soft and noisy lips went in one ear and out the other, each one boring into his mind and sinking his spirits. He felt like a hole was being carved into his chest and it somehow felt so familiar, but he could not place his finger where. He did not dwell on its origin long however, his curiosity overpowered by the feelings stirred by the current situation.

"_Why Watanuki?"_ he wanted to ask the boy who held glee in his smile. Why was he saying things like this?

That didn't matter right now. They were in danger and he needed to get Watanuki out of here, despite his sudden revelation. He would get Watanuki out of here and he would take him back with him. They would settle things there… but his leg wouldn't move and he could feel his hand tremble slightly… so he clenched it in resistance.

"Why don't you just leave me alone? I'm sick and tired of you always hanging around me. I'm done cooking for you and that girl," Watanuki's face contorted slightly.

_That girl?_ Doumeki narrowed his eyes. This was _not_ Watanuki.

114

Why was he saying things like this? He knew the archer was a bastard, but he didn't think he was cruel enough to save his life and lead him to believe that the dark haired popular boy actually cared for him in some way, not that he really cared either way… and then he goes and says painful things like this?

"Doumeki…" Watanuki's voice was soft, a submissive sound.

If Doumeki really despised him as much as he was letting on, then why did he let Watanuki believe that he, never wanting to admit it, had finally found a _best_ friend? It was too cruel.

Watanuki's poor, emotionally exuberant heart clenched and he could feel himself tear up in sadness and anger.

"I really can't stand you always yelling in my ear. Its annoying as hell." Doumeki blinked his eyes and turned his head to meet Watanuki's blue ones, same expression as always.

That warm familiarity he always associated with the archer vanished in an ominous chill creeping up his spine.

Watanuki cast a downward glance, his messy dark hair shielding his eyes.

"You… don't mean that."

"Yes, I do."

"Just look at yourself!" Watanuki shouted in a voice just as desperate, but not as shrill as his usual one. The tears came out a bit, but only in little droplets that flew off his face as he snapped his head up violently.

Doumeki gave him a bemused stare.

"This isn't the bastard I know!" He yelled and shook his head. "Can't you see yourself?" Watanuki pleaded, holding out his hands a little as a gesture that he wasn't sure that even served a purpose. Maybe it was the sudden need to be closer to the amber-eyed man? Maybe it was just in hope that the man standing across from him would see his ways?

"No. I can't."

Watanuki's brows turned upward and gave his frail body and pale face a very fragile look. That statement single handedly destroyed the last piece of thread that he held onto, that Doumeki was in fact just playing a horrible joke on him. This was not the Doumeki he thought he knew. How could he not _see_ what he was being like?

Then it struck him.

"You can't… see yourself?" His tears slowed a little and he looked slightly confused, bringing his hands to his sides.

"No, and frankly, I don't care. You mean nothing to me," Doumeki reiterated harshly.

The streams halted and the blue eyes gained a new, stronger look to them, his brows furrowing slightly.

This was _not_ Doumeki.

115

"I don't need you around me."

"No, you don't." Doumeki responded to this statement that has been filtering his head for the past ten minutes of torture. He watched as Watanuki's face crinkled in an ugly confusion. No, this was definitely not Watanuki. "Because you aren't Watanuki."

A look of shock graced the other's face before the messy haired boy gave a tweaked smile, one that was not common to the real Watanuki's face.

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm Watanuki." Doumeki's eyes narrowed at this.

"That girl?" the archer question and watched Watanuki's face don something akin to confusion. "Watanuki would _never_ refer to Kunogi Himawari as _that girl_."

This battle was won.

116

"I don't want you around me anymore, so just leave."

"No, you wouldn't, would you?" Doumeki's face didn't change visibly, but the little flicker of realization in the honey colored eyes was enough to further convince Watanuki of his speculation.

"If you were Doumeki, you _would_ be able to see yourself." The archer's eyes narrowed a little as Watanuki started to unravel his theory. The glasses clad boy even managed a little smirk on his face. "Through this eye." He points to the multicolored eye.

Whenever his emotions would fluctuate rapidly, without fail, the archer would be able to see whatever he saw. The blue-eyed boy was _pretty_ sure his emotions had just been fluctuating, so Doumeki should have been able to see himself, since Watanuki was looking at him…

Yes, he found the fault.

117

"You are not him." Doumeki declared and he watched Watanuki's face contort into anger as a light breeze poured into the foggy area, drifting away some of the tufts of cloud. Amber-eyes watched contently as the fake Watanuki slowly dissipated with the coursing fog.

Then, suddenly the wind picked up and Doumeki could feel the burn from the intensity at the back of his neck. The pressure pained his wound and he grasped at his shoulder, wincing at the ache.

The world began to get brighter and brighter as the wind created a vortex that ripped him from his place on the ground and into the air.

His first thoughts once the fog had cleared were: Where is Watanuki?

118

"You aren't Doumeki." Watanuki stated to the second imposter he has seen this day and he watched him narrow his eyes and disappear into the fog. The blue-eyed boy was pretty sure that he would appear in another spot, to try and hurt him or taunt him more.

But he was surprised by the sudden forceful gust of wind that seemed to shoe the fog out of the area and completely knock him to the ground, causing him to make his usual distraught wail.

He tried to pry himself up from the invisible floor that he was being smothered onto by the strong winds that had come out of nowhere. He noted that the world was no longer dark and he opened one eye to see if he could tell what was going on.

Just as he was surveying his current surroundings, the "floor" dropped out from underneath him and he was swirling into the air, at the mercy of the wind.

Where was Doumeki? … Where was kudakitsune?

What was going to happen from here? He did all he could do for the time being. He wailed.

"Watanuki!" the familiar husky voice called out to him and Watanuki dared to open an eye, looking for the owner he knew it belonged to.

He searched around in the hectic twirl. It was very difficult to see what was going on, he was being tumbled around so fast.

"Watanuki!" he heard it again and then he suddenly saw a flash of black and pale yellow. His vision focused a little and he saw the concern in those amber eyes as a hand jutted forward.

Watanuki looked at the hand for what seemed like minutes. That hand was the most familiar thing about the archer. It was the hand that he used to draw his bow. It was the hand that saved him from falling off a building. It was the hand that pulled him from a hydrangea bush. It was a hand that had saved his life, numerous times and here it was again, completely at the will of its owner. So why did the owner sacrifice this hand so unabashedly for his sake?

Blue eyes gazed up warmly to the desperate amber ones, never locking, but only admiring the strength and determination there was to rescue Watanuki from this hellhole.

He reached forward and grasped the hand, clamping on tightly. Both felt it. The sensation of security overwhelming their beings, though neither would admit it. Their first thoughts after the imposters disappeared were of each other and the others' well being.

A little yip to his right snapped Watanuki from his thoughts and he noticed the large animal that was currently being held underneath the archer's arm. It was kudakitsune.

A smile crept up onto his face and he brightly exclaimed, "Kudakitsune!"

"Are you okay?" The blue-eyed boy looked across from him, squinting a bit as the wind blew in his eyes. The archer had to be fairly strong to be holding onto two large beings in these extreme conditions, he admired.

"I'm fine!" he had to call out to him. The wind was loud and obnoxious. He squinted his eyes again, about to gain up the courage to ask Doumeki of his own state when he felt a sudden wetness on his cheek. There wasn't much, but it was there and he opened his eyes to look again at the archer and the spirit fox.

It was then that he remembered Doumeki's wound and his eyes widened as he saw the blood seeping through the cloth. How was he holding onto them both? _Why_ was he doing all of this for him?

He wanted to cry. He wanted to cry for the same reasons that he had when Yuuko had said to him, "Doumeki also made a choice… He didn't want you to disappear." He was such a foolish bastard.

He kept his tears in.

Doumeki gave a quick sigh of relief at Watanuki's safety, but it was a short lived relief as the pain in his shoulder intensified, causing him to grit his teeth and squint his eyes. He could hear the fox under his arm give a yowl and the wind thrashed at an even higher velocity, spinning them at an absurd rate, tossing them like rag dolls in a dryer.

He would not let go though. There was someone there that was too important to let go. He used one eye to peer at the blue-eyed boy that he has grown to care for so much.

It had started with a fight. They weren't supposed to get along, he thought… But somewhere over time, they have been thrown together, not by coincident… and now, Doumeki is here with the glasses clad, messy haired boy that he once had, had a bone to pick with. He was saving his life. Because somewhere along the line, Doumeki had begun to care tremendously for the owner of the blue eyes. Enough to even share parts of his very being and soul with. He didn't understand it fully himself, but he knew what he felt… And it was with this feeling that he tightened his grip and decided to never let go, no matter what happened.

He held on for minutes more before the unexpected echo of a voice sounded throughout the vortex. A scream. A scream not of horror, but one of frustration, one of the most deadly types of scream. It was one that depicted anger and ferocity, and grief and pure craze. They were things that could drive a person mad.

"Why?!" The three looked up and all around for the voice that echoed hoarsely in their surroundings.

"Why don't you fall _apart_!" the wind picked up slightly before slowly starting to subside. "Do you really like _him_ more than _me_?!"

Doumeki narrowed his eyes as he looked around for the owner, taking note of the once again, darkening realm. Watanuki glance from side to side, wondering who the voice was talking about…

Was this…?

Was this the one who had captured him?

"It wasn't even just that girl!" the wind was coming to a stop, no longer able to support the weight of the three and they began to touch down on the blackened floor of the ever-becoming familiar abyss. Doumeki released kudakitsune, who gracefully landed on all fours, but did not let go of Watanuki's hand, still grasping it tightly. "A man!"

Watanuki looks at Doumeki who is breathing a little heavily, and sweating slightly. He wears a soft expression and can't help but look at the amber-eyes of his savior.

"A man is taken over me!"

Then suddenly, a figure from their peripheral side captures their gaze.

A figure dressed in tattered white. Dark colored, piercing eyes. Clammy skin. Pale, blue lips. And tousled dark hair.

Watanuki's eyes locked with the owner of the voice and his eyes widened at the pain and anger that was directed at him.

Then, a clear liquid seeped from the eyes, making them glossy and wet.

"How could you? …" The lady cried. Her bluish bottom lip, quivering slightly.

"How could you Watanuki Kimihiro!" she shouted out in anguish.

Watanuki's eyes widened and he could feel Doumeki's hand clench onto his.

000

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Next Chapter: Butterfly Beginnings 

A/N: Okay, so it ended up a little longer than expected, but hey! Only one more chapter to go! I'm excited to write the next one. I think you might like it, and I think you might not lol We shall see. Again thank you for those who have reviewed and I'll try and give you the best ending for this fic I can create! Till then! .


	11. Butterfly Beginnings

**heavenlyHOLiC**

Disclaimer: I don't own the xxxHOLiC characters or the plot. ;.; All rights reserved to CLAMP. The song at the end is Watch Over Me by Bernard Fanning.

Summary: Watanuki meets an unfortunate accident and dies. Everyone reacts their own way… but something is eerie about his death… Something isn't settling right with Doumeki.

Warning: Possible language, possible violence, shounen-ai implications

Pairing: Dou/Wata if you want it to be.

A/N: Omg it's the last chapter. I've NEVER finished a story before XD I'm so excited to see how this turns out and I hope I do justice to the ideas I've been struck with. I know the last chapter really wasn't that great. (Probably the worst chapter so far, but it needed to be done lol) And I need to thank you all though for following it this far. There is special thanks to Hotori, SakuraRi, kiseki gurl, ani, silver windflame, CLAMP-yuuko, Miko-Chi, Belladona-Isabella, Skies, notorious blue, kix-prue, marine maiden, White Pheonix aka Ryoko, Deathless Wraith, Kouzuka Haruomi, merry-tasogare, Calliope Della Corte, Kazu Eri, Crazy Chestire Cat, Salisha, deleated account, Yumiko-Emiko, blood.of.a.phoenix, Kiki Momitchi, EverDarkSilver, Hyde n Psyc, DeathGodGirl, a is for action, Kyia Star, Sony Boy, Chris-Redfield26, and Saina Tsukino for supplying me with reviews. Reviews really keep me coming back to things, even if they are a little late. Thank you thank you thank you so much. : ) It really means a lot to me so I'm going to try my best to dish out this chapter and make it good (though I'm pretty sure I'm going to get canned by some of you for what I do in the middle of this chapter XD) I hope you like it. If you do, this is the chapter to review on! It's the most important because it's the last! Hope you enjoy!

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"_How could you? …" The lady cried. Her bluish bottom lip, quivering slightly. _

"_How could you Watanuki Kimihiro!" she shouted out in anguish._

_Watanuki's eyes widened and he could feel Doumeki's hand clench onto his._

000

Who was this girl?

…

How did she know his name?

Watanuki looked at the ghostly figure, her dress illuminated by darkness. His blue eyes squinting with curiosity and fear. Ghosts, ghouls, demons, spirits… All of them haunted him relentlessly… so why should this "white lady" be any different?

Most of the spirits that haunted him had a look of greed and lust in their eye(s), desire for whatever it is that they follow him for… But this woman…

Her dark eyes shone with things that he was fairly sure resembled hurt and anger. Directed towards him?

Why was she staring at him, boring her eyes into him with those feelings?

There was a soft patter of her bare feet, hitting the floor of the abyss that she had created. Never once did she blink.

Watanuki felt a sense of uneasiness rise from his lower spine and creep its way up to the base of his neck, where it spread throughout his chest. With each, lumbering step forward, hairs erected all over his body. It was becoming cold…

"How could you…" she nearly chokes out, malice tinted behind the words.

Suddenly they were not in the world they were. The sun was bright and the cicadas sang their loud, daily song… The scene was all around them, like a huge familiar screen… and they were standing right in it.

There was wonder in Watanuki's eyes; sparkling with nostalgia and amazement of the outside world that he hasn't seen in days. The sight released all the strength in his hand, causing him to let go of the archer's.

Though his four-eyed companion was thoroughly amused by the sudden change in scenery, Doumeki did not release the lady's dark, eerie eyes, locking onto them with his own amber ones. It was almost like a duel in its own. A duel for their most prized possession and Yuuko be damned if the archer would let his eyes stray.

"Ah, Kagura-chan!" came the soft sound of Watanuki's voice, ringing throughout the scene playing all around them. The archer heard a small gasp come from his companion followed by a small whine from kudakitsune. Doumeki looked at his opponent, narrowing his eyes visibly as hers twinkled with a silent malicious victory. He had to look to see what was going on, there really wasn't much of a choice… so he looked.

He wasn't quite sure what to expect when he looked, though he was fairly certain it wouldn't be normal. Nothing in this forsaken place had been normal, varying from the countless abysses, changing scenery, imposters, and monster…. Though he wasn't quite expecting to see Watanuki's smiling face blown up on the surrounding screen.

_"Kagura-chan!" Watanuki called out to someone, eyes sparkling with the happiness that he always had when he was genuinely excited. A hand was brought up in a wave._

_A young girl with long dark hair and soft blue eyes stepped out shyly from behind a telephone pole, a sweet smile on her face. Her skirt bobbed a little as she trotted over in the female version of his school uniform. _

"_Watanuki-kun!" she called out over to him, a familiar twinkle in her eyes. She stopped in front of him and smiled, which caused Watanuki's smile to brighten. _

"_It's nice to see you Kagura-chan. Would you like to eat lunch with me tomorrow?" Watanuki asked her unhesitant, seeming as though he had already planned it out. _

_The girl, supposedly named Kagura, blushed slightly, her smile softening and looking shyly to the side. _

"_Sure Watanuki-kun, if it's with you."_

Doumeki was pretty sure he did not know a Kagura from their school and he was almost positive that Watanuki did not either. Watanuki really didn't have any friends outside of himself, Himawari, Yuuko and the others from her shop. Though… he couldn't quite put his finger on it, the conversation seemed somehow familiar….

"_Ano… Kagura-chan?" he looked at her from the corner of his catlike blue eyes, scratching the side of his cheek lightly. Kagura looked up innocently at the mention of her name and tilted it to the side. _

_Watanuki's eyes traveled to the crumb on the side of her cheek as they ate beneath the tree outside of the school. He looked at it curiously before smiling and propping his head in his hand. _

"_You have something…" he trailed off, pointing a slender finger in the direction of her cheek. She travels her eyes slowly to her face noticing it out of the corner of her eye blinking an "Oh," before wiping it off. _

_Watanuki smiles sweetly at her, his affection highly obvious upon his face._

Doumeki frowns at this scene. Where was this coming from? That was _their_ spot. Their spot. The spot in which Watanuki, himself, and Kunogi ate. Who was this girl? He had suspicions, but…

_"Kagura-chan! About before…" Watanuki called out to Kagura's back as he jogged after her to catch up. People were already leaving school, passing by them, but it seems like the only ones talking are the two of them. The scene is much to centered on them to be a memory._

_Kagura turns around, her long straight hair flowing gently behind her. Watanuki stops a few feet away from her, giving a slight wave._

_"What is it Watanuki-kun?" she smiles and asks._

_"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out and have lunch on Saturday?" a little shake in his voice signals his nervousness. Kagura turns around all the way to face him, a slightly shocked look on her face that quickly fades into a smile._

_"Of course Watanuki-kun!" Watanuki's face visibly lit up and he held his hands out to the side, his bag sliding down one arm._

_"Then I'll see you Saturday? Does noon work for you? How about we meet at the bus stop near Green Drug Pharmacy?" the clumsy blue-eyed boy spilled out to her and she laughed softly at his exuberance._

_"I'll see you then!"_

Doumeki was beginning to piece things together now…

_Kagura is standing by the bus stop, dressed in a cute yellow plaid outfit with a small bag clutched in her hands in front of her. She looks around nervously for any sight of Watanuki. It's a little past noon and she is afraid that something might have happened to Watanuki._

_Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a messy top of hair across the street, complete with blue eyes and glasses and a lost looking face as he looked side to side for something. Her nervous face waned and instead her lips parted into the beginnings of a smile. She started to lift her hand to wave and call out to him, but stopped when a set of curls came into view._

_She couldn't hear their voices, but she saw the smiles on their faces. Watanuki was talking to another girl, a very pretty girl with her hair tied on both sides of her head. Her smile was pleasant._

_Then a taller handsome man who she recognized as popular among many in the school stopped over and she could see Watanuki's face dim with anger, but it was easy to tell, even from across the street, the blush that sheathed his face._

_This couldn't be happening right? Maybe he just saw them walking around. That had to be it._

_Then Watanuki, the girl, and the boy turned and started to walk down the street, away from Kagura… Out of sight._

_Was Watanuki standing her up? Did he prefer to go out with a pretty girl and handsome man instead of her?_

_Her disbelief caused her to step forward into the road, her eyes beginning to blur with tears as she reached a hand out to him, saying his name softly. How could he betray her?_

_She was oblivious to the car horns being blown at her as she took another step forward._

_There was a screech of tire wheels and nothing more._

The scene paused around them.

Doumeki closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. So that's how it was…

So her name was Kagura?

Watanuki put his hand to his mouth, visibly shaking, his eyes wide, looking paler than normal. What was this?

"You see? … Watanuki Kimihiro… How could you?" the lady's hair fell into her face, covering her eyes.

"You betrayed me Watanuki!" she screamed at him, her voice sounding hoarse as if she had been crying out like that forever. His name being called in such a way sent shivers down his spine and pulled him back into reality.

What was she talking about? He was positive that he never knew a girl named Kagura in his entire life. Those scenes… They were so familiar to him and yet so foreign. It was like seeing the life of himself in an alternate universe.

Watanuki found his eyes drifting towards Doumeki whose head was still turned away from the scene. What would Doumeki think about this? Did he know that it wasn't true? What if he thought that Watanuki was really having an affair with this Kagura. For some reason, the thought of the archer misinterpreting the situation pained him.

He didn't want Doumeki to think like this about him… He wasn't sure why though. Out of all the people that he knew, he held Doumeki's opinion of him, the highest. He needed the person closest to him to think greatly of him. There was no denying the intensely close bond the two of them shared. Their mingled eyes and blood is proof of it, though sometimes the blue eyed boy would like to deny this. It made him slightly uncomfortable and yet it made the most sense in the world for their closeness. He's had many talks with Haruka-san about this…

"I don't even know who you are…!" Watanuki suddenly felt the need to defend himself, though it was a meek attempt. It was sad the way she had died and Watanuki could certainly understand where she was coming from, but he definitely had nothing to do with this girl.

"It was bad enough that you were with that girl! But a man! You chose a man over me Watanuki!" the lady was not listening, her hair still covering her face, though her voice was hindered none.

Watanuki heard the desperate anger in her voice and it frightened him. His eyes were still wide, his brows upturned. What could he do in a situation like this?

"He didn't choose anyone over you," the deep voice sang out. The lady looked up, her face finally unveiled from her unruly long hair. Watanuki looked over at his companion.

"Watanuki didn't even know you, did he?" The archer's amber eyes bore into the deep brown ones that glared curses at him. "Kagura." She seemed to seethe at the mention of her own name. Those scene she had shown… He recognized them as memories of their own. Those were conversations that Watanuki, himself, and Kunogi had had… It was with the three of them that the plan was made to meet near the drug store…

"You stay away from him! He's mine!" she angrily balled a fist and made a swinging motion to her side to create an emphasis on her point.

"I thought you said he chose me over you?" his face was left unchanging though his brows were narrowed slightly, causing great irritation in the lady.

Watanuki glared over at Doumeki as well.

"I didn't choose you over anyone either!" he felt the need to retort against this statement as well. He claimed the blush leaking across his face out of anger.

Doumeki let his eyes stray for a moment over to the yelling blue-eyed boy and they seemed to silently tell Watanuki to stay out of it. Frankly, Watanuki did not want to stay out of it, seeing as though it was him they were arguing over. However, as much as he hated to admit, that bastard was right… his involvement in the conversation could lead to drastic chaos.

The lady turned her piercing wide eyes on Watanuki who felt them land on him, turned back to her as a chill ran up his spine.

"Watanuki…" she began. "You could have been with me! … But your bond with this man… Your blood… and that eye," she extended a fragile clammy hand at the wide blue eyes. "It's too great…!" the last part seemed forced.

Suddenly, she fell to her knees, collapsing and catching both of the boys off guard. She stay on her hands and knees, shaking, her hair once again falling into her face, but it did not hide the tears that hit the abysmal screen she had created.

Seeing the tears, Watanuki's fearful heart softened a little bit and he almost felt the need to comfort the lady in white. However, kudakitsune lowered its head to the ground, growling in terror. Watanuki looked over to the fox, wondering what it was doing before letting his gaze stray back to the lady in white.

"Why? … Why? Why can't it be the way I wanted it to?" she looked up and Watanuki half expected her to look said. But her face… it was contorted by pain, anguish, and rage. It was an ugly mix. "Why."

"Why won't you two fall apart?!" she screamed out, her voice echoing greatly in the abyss, reverberating off of invisible walls and the sort.

"Wah!" Watanuki called out as the ground started to shake tremendously, causing everything to seem blurry and difficult to maintain balance. A sharp crack dared him to look in the direction of the scene that had been paused as the enveloping screen shattered, falling in pieces to no where below them, revealing nothing but a familiar blackness.

For every piece that fell, a harsh gust of wind flew in causing an internal mayhem.

The lady let out a fierce scream as one hand flew to her head, clutching it in what could be construed as pain. Her mouth moved to form words, but the wind was so strong it was almost impossible to hear her. She was losing it mentally, if it had ever been there.

Suddenly, Watanuki felt a strong hand grasp tightly to his arm and he turned to see familiar amber eyes piercing onto his own; an arm positioned above his eyes to shield them from the sharp wind. Watanuki could see kudakitsune next to the archer, holding onto the ground with its long nails, which were ever so slowly being pushed back.

"We have to get out of here!" Watanuki could hear Doumeki call out to him, muffled greatly by the intense noise that was being created.

It was at this moment that Watanuki had decided to shake his head "no," causing the archer to gain a confused look. Why would the blue-eyed boy not want to leave this hell?

He felt Watanuki tear his arm from him and turn to face him, his normally messy hair being tousled furiously by the wind.

"We can't just leave her here like this!" Watanuki's eyes gained a softness to them.

Was that really the reason his companion didn't want to leave? Doumeki clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes angrily and he could tell that Watanuki saw it as well, though his expression seemed to take on one of defiance.

"We have to go-!"

"No! I'm not going to leaver her alone!" Watanuki retorted immediately. His eyes held a stubbornness akin to the archer's and he knew that the battle was lost. Once Watanuki had made up his mind, there was almost no way to stop him. This is always how he got himself into trouble…

Doumeki said nothing back and Watanuki took this as his "okay," ignoring the look in the archer's eyes as he turned his back and trudged in the direction of the lady, facing the wind and trying his damndest to move against it.

He had to get to her and stop all of this!

Doumeki watched Watanuki move further and further from his grasp and the further from sight he got, the more his heart constricted. Doumeki genuinely cared for Watanuki… he would give his life for him if the time ever arose. He has shared his sight and his very blood with him. He has risked his life countless time because the boy always had to go and do something stupid. He was so stubborn... And every time he has watched his back fall, or watched him walk away… every time he was sick, and every time he has passed out… Doumeki has been there for him, pained by his stupidity. Didn't the boy see how much his recklessness hurt him? He was giving Watanuki his all and all that was returned was the promise that the blue-eyed boy would do it again.

His kindness led him to be that way the archer was convinced… He was such a kind person and that was what he liked about the hard working boy.

And as every time before that, Doumeki's heart ached as he watched the object of his affection, trudge onward to face a peril…

And Doumeki would always be there, should he need him…

"Kagura!!" Watanuki tried to call out, shielding his face from the wind that seemed to intensify, the closer he got to the breaking lady. "Kagura!! Aaah!" A sudden particularly strong gust of wind knocked him back a couple of feet, but he somehow managed to stay afoot in the bit of flailing. He wouldn't give up.

He didn't know who she was at all, but the fact of the matter was that she believed that Watanuki was in love with her and had betrayed her. She was being torn up by this belief. It didn't matter where she had gotten this ridiculous idea, but… being Watanuki, he just couldn't leave her like this…

"Kagura!" he called out again, he was a few feet away from her now. He could see the lost look in the deep brown eyes and the unusually contorted face, clammy and covered in streams of tears. Dare he get closer?

Watanuki moved in front of her and bent down, the wind reluctant to let him move at all. What should he do? Now that he was there, what was he going to do?

"Kagura! Are you listening to me?!" he tried to get a hold of her. "You need to stop this!" No response. Calling out to her wasn't going to work and Watanuki knew it. He narrowed his eyes, his brows turned upwards to give him that of a truly desperate look. This needed to be stopped now.

So he did the only thing he could think of…

What was taking Watanuki so long? Doumeki waited patiently with an equally anxious kudakitsune.

Suddenly the wind started to die down and Doumeki let his arm down from shielding his face, looking ahead to spot Watanuki.

… But the sight there was one he definitely did not want to see…

Watanuki was not supposed to do that with her… Their were lips intertwined in a chaste kiss.

Doumeki felt his heartthrob and his abdomen tightened instinctively. He could tell from the way the wind stopped so abruptly that this was really the only way Watanuki could think of to subdue her. There was no meaning behind it… but he couldn't help but feel that little pang of jealousy cross his skin and reflect in his amber eyes.

Watanuki pulled away after about a minute, feeling their lips part and the wind swirling to a stop. He allowed his eyes to open and saw not the lady, but the girl in the scenes. Her now blue eyes were focusing and her scraggily hair more refined.

The blue-eyed boy watched her skin gain a little bit more color as the realization dawned in her eyes. This was Kagura. He tightened his hold on her shoulders a little bit as she let out a small, barely audible gasp and sat up, touching her fingers to her lips where his own once were.

She felt them shakily with her fingers before darting her eyes up to meet Watanuki's, complete surprise located with in those orbs.

"Wa… Wata…nuki…-kun?" Kagura managed to get out, earning a soft smile from the messy haired boy seated across from her. Her surprise faded as her brows turned upward and her eyes filled with sadness and tears.

It was Watanuki's turn to be surprised when the tears began to flow and she put her head down, her hair falling gracefully into her face. He hadn't expected her to start crying.

"I'm sorry…" he almost didn't hear it the first time. "I'm sorry…" she said again a little louder and looked up. "I'm so sorry Watanuki-kun!"

With the now crying girl in his arms Watanuki was even less sure of what to do with her, however he had to play it cool, for the sake of getting out of this mess.

He gave her a weak smile, "It's oka-," he started to say, but was cut off by the blue eyed girl.

"I remember…" she said quietly, closing her eyes. "I've always watched you from afar… I was from the class year below yours, but I was so in love with you…"

Watanuki was shocked to say the least. There was a girl who was in love with him? And he never knew? He was so used to not being popular with any girl other than Himawari that the knowledge that there was at least one girl that produced feeling other than platonic for him… was rather shocking.

Though this did explain why he had never known who she was.

"I was never in those scenes," a sad smile graced her face. "… I wanted to be. I truly did… but… I never wanted it to end up like this-!" her voice cracked and a delicate hand went to cover her mouth as more tears spilled from her watery eyes.

"I'm so sorry!" she couldn't keep it in anymore and wailed her resent and regret. The shock slowly faded from his face and he let go of one of her shoulders, tilting her chin up so that her eyes would meet his.

She resisted slightly, sobbing in his grip as she was forced to face the one she loved, awaiting the scorn.

Instead… she was met with a smile, a soft, loving smile that seemed to make her tears halt.

"It's okay," Watanuki said softly. "I forgive you…"

She made no more sounds and no more tears flowed from her eyes, leaving her cheeks stained and red.

Forgiveness?

Was she really being forgiven for all that she had done? …

…

She cast a downward glance, the barest of smiles on her face and she closed her eyes…

Watanuki really was the kindest of people.

Doumeki and kudakitsune watch from a little ways away, having crept a little closer to hear their conversation. Kudakitsune seemed to be happy with the results of the ordeal, giving a small yip of content.

Doumeki was torn however… he watched Watanuki interact with her, treating her with care and a gentleness that only he could achieve. The glasses clad boy was truly amazing, though he never recognized it himself really

Suddenly the lower half of the girl turned lighter, almost as if it were glowing with a soft hue and she began to dissipate, little balls of light forming from the glow and floating up into the air of the dark abyss.

She must be crossing, Doumeki thought.

She opened her eyes at the sudden warmness she felt and noticed herself disappearing. Panicking, she looked up sharply at Watanuki and opened her mouth to say something until she noticed the warm smile on his face that immediately calmed her.

"It's alright." She seemed to understand the meaning of these words. Watanuki reached out and took her hand in between his own and held on, watching her disappear into the afterlife.

She blushed lightly at the gesture and nodded. Watanuki held on until there was nothing left of her and couldn't help but notice the smile on her face as the last of her faded away.

It was a sad story, with a somewhat happy ending he believed.

He stayed on the floor, kneeling in the same position looking at his hand. He was too exhausted to stand and the relief that washed over him crippled his movement.

He listened to the sound of footsteps come closer to him, but he did not look.

Doumeki stopped a few feet away from Watanuki, kudakitsune at his side and he look at the boy.

Watanuki was so fragile in many ways… He frowned slightly at the boy on the ground still slightly upset at him for even daring to attempt to subdue the hatred in that girls' heart.

"She's at peace now…" the archer found himself saying.

He heard the boy let out a hefty sigh and watched his lanky body sag, a signal that he was done with his thoughts.

"Come on, let's go home before you catch mono…" He turned and started to walk away.

Let's go home…

Oh how he's been waiting to say those words… They seem so foreign and nostalgic to him. He had woken up and been put through hell to get Watanuki back and here he was. There was no more white lady. Watanuki was no longer being held captive. Nothing was chasing them. Nothing was after them. They could just… leave.

The pleasure that this one little thought brought him was so fulfilling he had to strain himself to stand.

Watanuki…

He had risked his life once more to save the boy he cared about so much. The thought of being with him again. Eating his cooking. Arguing. Listening to his loud mouth rant and fawn over Kunogi… Watanuki was back. Everything would be as it should. Life would continue on with Watanuki.

Watanuki was coming home with him…

The overwhelming feeling struck him and it has taken almost everything he has to not do something drastic, like hug the boy to express how happy it makes him to know that the messy haired boy was safe. How happy…

Watanuki…

"I'm dead."

The words did not penetrate his skull at first. They seemed too simple… too bland to mean anything... though he halted.

He heard Watanuki stand and turn to face his back. What was he saying? I'm dead. What was that supposed to mean?

Doumeki felt his whole body shake and he clenched his fist in effort to cease it… but no matter if his body shook, his heart did as well. He stiffly started to turn around and face Watanuki.

The face seemed so real. He could reach out and touch him. How could he say such a thing? It made no sense to him.

"I can't go back with you idiot," the blue eyes held truth in his words and his voice held the harsh reality.

Watanuki had died. He had done his funeral service. He had touched his cold hand and given him the hajaya arrow. He had seen that peaceful look on his face.

There was a burning sensation in the back of his eyes and he could feel his face heat up.

When had he begun to think that Watanuki would be able to come back with him?

Watanuki watched his friend with saddened eyes. He had noticed ever since Doumeki had come to rescue him the frame of mind he had been in. He had somehow out of pure desire and power of the mind, caused himself to believe that Watanuki would be coming back with him.

He felt bad for not having said something sooner, but he didn't want to hurt him… However… it had to be done now… There was no other option.

Though… he wasn't quite expecting this.

"D-Doumeki!" his sadness turned into shock as he watched his friend's unchanging expression, that one of pure nonchalant that irritated him to the bone, began to shed tears. Tears poured from the corner of his amber eyes and the redness on his cheeks could be seen. "What's wrong?" He felt feeble for asking such a question. He knew what was wrong. It was so painfully obvious…

The tears just kept coming. It seemed the more he tried to keep them back, the more they continued to flow. It was one of the hardest struggles of his life.

_What's wrong you idiot?! I spent all this time looking for you, hoping that I'd be able to see you again and take you back with me so you can be by my side forever. So I can protect you _forever!

It was one of the longest trains of thought he has ever had and one of the most passion filled. Everything he felt in those days after the funeral was rushing back to him in a flurry, attacking his heart, trying to keep it from beating, breaking it.

All that pain. The sickness and tears that had to be hidden. The cool tile floor of his bathroom and the aimless wandering of his mind… The hallucinations of the past that can never live the future.

There was nothing he could say to the boy, standing in shock and looking lost as to what he should or could do. The pain stood in his eyes too.

"Moron…" was all he could muster up to say and some how his voice did not shake like his hands. He turned his head and began to walk away, ignoring kudakitsune's soft whines as it quietly watched the heart-breaking scene.

There was nothing left there for him… nor would there be anywhere else. Watanuki was gone forever and this would be last time he would ever see him again… This time really was the last.

He trudged slowly onward into the darkness ahead, unsure of his actual destination. He didn't seem to care anymore. There was no point.

Then suddenly he felt a light tug on his hand, causing him to stop his movements. He turned slightly not expecting to see the pale hand grasping his own and the pained eyes that were attached to it.

How could he be so foolish? He really was a moron too…

He cast his amber eyes to the ground in front of him. Watanuki was in pain too… It was the curse of their bond.

It was a bond unlike the one of their eyes and blood… It was one that they had forged a long time ago that would bring them together once again. It was a bond that couldn't be broken by anyone but themselves. Neither one had consciously acknowledged it, but now… now was the time.

Watanuki let go of the hand that was larger and more calloused than his own, letting it fall limply to its owner's side. He looked at his feet before moving closer to the slightly taller man, reaching up to gently grasp the fabric of his shirt and leaning his forehead against the warm broad back… settling like this before closing his eyes and feeling the closeness of the two.

"I know…" he quietly says, not sure if the archer had heard him or not.

Doumeki could feel Watanuki's dilemma and though painful as it was, it was comforting knowing that he wasn't the only one who was feeling this way.

He let out a hefty, shaky sigh before tilting his head back and looking up into the dark abyss.

He couldn't stay here for eternity… He would have to leave soon and it would be goodbye forever…

So neither moved for what seemed like an eternity.

…

He let the short lived eternity pass and Doumeki knew that if he stayed any longer, he would not find the will to leave.

"I have to go…" he manages to muster up. He can feel the almost nonexistent nod of Watanuki's head and the reluctant way he let go of his shirt. A silent tap is made as Watanuki steps back. Another shuffle comes when Doumeki turns around to face Watanuki.

They stare at each other, taking in the last sights that they will see for a long time. Despite their differences, not that Watanuki would ever admit, he will miss the archer in the time they are apart. Together with Himawari, the two gave him the best set of friends he could ever ask for.

Doumeki's eyebrows raised slightly at the sudden glow beneath Watanuki's feet. Watanuki looked down and noticed himself dissipating much like the way Kagura had, though not surprising. He looked back up at the archer however.

As the first bubble floated past his view, Doumeki was struck with the awakening thought that this was it. Watanuki was disappearing before his very eyes… This really was the last moment. What should he do? What could he say?

…

"Oi," Sounded appropriate. Watanuki's face contorted into one of annoyance.

"I'm dead and you still can't even say my name?!" he yelled out at him, quickly fading away but managing to thrust an arm into the air for clarification.

"I'll still watch over you." Watanuki stopped in mid rant and dropped his arm, which began to fade away. That idiot…

Watanuki's face softened and his eyes glimmered as his brows turned upward sadly.

Doumeki… That idiot… He's given everything for him and has shown he's been willing to give more. To know that the person he's strived to protect with his life is now dead and there is nothing he can do about it… He can't imagine the kind of pain the archer could be going through.

He can't find the words to respond, so he hopes the nod and quiver in his lip will do. As his face finally fades away he catches that one last glimmer of a tear in the corner of an amber eye.

After the last ball of light has ascended into the darkness above, the abyss around him has started to fade away into the familiar world of the spirits.

There was fresh ground and green sky, but he didn't notice. He didn't even notice the spirits all around. He missed the gentle hand of the Ame-Warashi placed on the shoulder of a howling kudakitsune. He missed the hiccups of the strengthening Zashiki-Warashi.

He stared at the hand that Watanuki had grasped, no longer feeling the warmth that had been there when he had…

I'll protect him always…

He lowered his amber eyes to the ground and closed his fingers around an unseen object before clutching it to his chest and holding it there.

Watanuki…

111

It was a few days later after the incident and the sun in the real world continued to shine even though one of its greatest rivals was no longer in this world. No countless rainy days had occurred and the trees did not wilt and mankind did not die off. Doumeki took comfort in the areas of life that continued to exist even though his most important companion has been taken from him.

The world had not ended after Watanuki's death and Doumeki decided he needed to come to terms with this. The pain will always be there and he's not sure if it will ever cease, but… He would try to move on.

His movements were methodic as he swept the dirt from the stone path that led to the shrine. His face lay solemn. There was a light breeze out this morning and it kept him cool while the sun sent smiles towards his back.

A flicker of movement caught his eyes briefly, causing them to dart around looking for the object that has caught his attention. It didn't take more than a second before he spotted the butterfly flitting around, circling his head. He halted in his chores to watch it for a moment before it took off, briefly blocking his view of the main gate before flying away and revealing a person who hadn't been there before.

And there he was…

Doumeki felt his breath hitch and anything that he had been trying suppress came right back. Though he somehow kept it in, the only expression he allowed himself was a slight widening of the eyes to show his surprise.

"You better not have hurt Himawari-chan," the blue-eyed boy looked somewhat annoyed at the archer. Watanuki dared to take a step forward, walking casually over to the stunned shrine keeper.

Was this real?

Was this Watanuki or was it his imagination?

"You look stupid with that face," he tried to lighten the mood by returning to their informalities, though the quiet nature and unresponsiveness of his friend caused him to fork out an explanation. "I came to see how you were doing…" he trailed off, looking to the side.

A ray of hope.

"Then…"

"I'm not coming back." Watanuki quickly killed the thought before it could grow to something like it had a few days before. That look on the archer… it had been no different from his usual one, but the tears streaming down his face indicated that something had been going on in that head and it gave him a new perspective to the archer. That face… he never wanted to see it again.

"…" Doumeki retained his silence.

"Look if you're not going to say anything then I can leave," Watanuki turned to go. He didn't have a lot of time here and decided it pointless to stay if nothing would be said.

"Wait… I…" Doumeki was caught off guard by the sudden announcement of departure. He wasn't done. He needed to say something to him. The blue-eyed boy turned around slightly to look back at the archer.

"I'm going to miss you," is what he says.

Watanuki studies him for a moment before smiling and turning around fully to face him once more.

"You already do," he continues to hold that smile until the archer's blatant study of himself is too much to bear and he turns his head to the side, the polar side of him coming out to save his skin. "Look at you all mopey and stuff! Poor Himawari-chan is subjected to hang out with you too! Ugh! Moron…" He tries his hardest to act normal for the archer, to get him on a lighter note.

"…" His silence was the most irritating thing about him. What did he want him to do? Spill his life story to him?

"Thanks… I haven't been able to say it… but thanks," he trailed off, a slight blush on his face. He had to avert his eyes, finding it difficult to direct them at the shrine keeper. At least with this the archer had to respond with at least a formality.

"Ah." What that his idea of a formality? He was trying to be nice to him!

"That's all you have to say?! Ah?! You piss me off so bad!" It really was irritating and he huffed out his rage and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Kimihiro." That, however, got his attention and he dropped his arms to his side again before gazing at the owner of the amber eyes.

"…W-what?" Was that? ….

"Kimihiro… Watanuki… Kimihiro," Doumeki found himself saying the boy's name, listening to how it rolled off his tongue. He always wondered how it would feel.

"… Sh-shut up! Stop making it sound like we're a couple! And who told you, you could call me that?!" the blush covering the messy haired boy's face was painfully obvious and he tried to hide it through his yells, thrusting a fist in the archer's general directions. They weren't a couple, but the things the archer said sometimes made it easily construed to be as such. People like Himawari were a sad prime example.

That was the reaction he had wanted. It was the liveliness that he desired from Watanuki. Though his voice said one thing, his red cheeks always told him another.

The corners of his mouth tugged upwards into the first smile he has had for a while and it was one he would always remember. Watanuki sees the smile and it makes him feel as though he has accomplished something by appearing.

"I have to go now you idiot… Take care of Himawari-chan for me… and yourself," Watanuki decides to add, his time is almost up. Doumeki is drawn from his happy moment back to the strange reality in which he exists, his smile fading.

He nods.

"Maybe I'll see you another time? You know… for bento?" Watanuki adds in quietly.

"You can have bento there?" This perks the archer's interest, his amber eyes gleaming, though he knows somewhere in the back of his head it's probably a comfort thing Watanuki is offering to him.

"Foxes make oden for spirits, why can't I make bento?" he tries to justify his suggestion, though he is positive that Doumeki can see through his lie.

"It'd be nice." It would make his life if it were possible.

"Well then…" Watanuki trailed off, unsure of how to begin their parting.

"Don't go."

Watanuki looked back up at the archer.

"Eh?"

"Don't go, please…" there was a hint of desperation in his voice and Watanuki couldn't help the feeling that ran through him. He felt bad for having to leave the archer alone, but he didn't have a choice.

"Doumeki…" His brows up turn to express his slight sadness.

"I don't want you to go." This had to be the most that Watanuki has ever gotten out of the taller boy. It felt awkward though, having the shrine keeper express himself in such a way.

"… I'm sorry, I have to…" Watanuki heard himself say. He couldn't comfort the archer with his death anymore. He had to get Doumeki to let go of him.

"I know… but it was worth a try." Doumeki closed his amber eyes. He felt a little more complete with this said… He had at least tried.

"Doumeki…"

"Shizuka…"

Watanuki felt a bit of color form on his cheeks at the informality. Doumeki was allowing him to address him as someone who was close to him… Though it felt awkward, he was compelled to comply with the wish.

"Shizuka…" Watanuki starts, listening to himself chew on the name. "When someone's gone, you have to let go… Otherwise your existence will become meaningless and without existence there is no hope… and without hope, there is no lo-… Well… you get the point." He's not even sure why he said such a thing. It had just felt appropriate.

"…" Of course there would be no answer… He didn't expect one… It was time for him to go anyways.

"I'll see you around then. Ja," Watanuki gave one last awkward smile before fading into a flurry of butterflies that dispersed around the area.

Doumeki watched each and every one disappear from sight. Though seeing his friend part once more makes him feel the uncomfortable burning sensation behind his eyes return, he sheds no more tears and he never would.

Watanuki would always be with him in his thoughts. The memories that he had with him, the pains and strife's he had been put through because of that one boy.

He wouldn't exchange them for the world…

Doumeki resumed his sweep, moving back to the existing world full of life, not noticing the gently flitting butterfly that landed on steps of the shrine.

_When trouble fills my world  
You bring me peace  
You calm me down  
You're my relief  
When walls come crashing down around my feet  
You light my way  
You're my release_

So say you'll watch over me  
When I'm in too deep  
Tell me you'll always be  
There to pull me free

When the sun is beating down upon my brow  
You are my shade  
You cool me down  
Every time I tried to turn away  
You brought me 'round  
Your humble way

_So say you'll watch over me  
When I'm in too deep  
Tell me you'll always be  
There to pull me free_

_For every time you sheltered me from harm  
You showed me truth  
Kept me warm  
Every time you left me on the street  
I found my way  
I found my feet_

_So say you'll watch over me  
When I'm in too deep  
Tell me you'll always be  
There to pull me free  
There to rescue me  
There to pull me free  
There to rescue me_

* * *

000 

A/N: Omg it's done!! I sat down and wrote it in 10 hrs for you guys. God I hope that came out okay… I have it all out in my head, but I'm not sure I did it justice in words. Tell me what you think and again I want to thank you all for following my fic!! I really appreciate it!! Please remember to review 'cause it's the last chapter! Make me happy! XD Even if you didn't like it, review and tell me that it wasn't good::is so relieved that she doesn't have the weight of 2 anticipated fics on her shoulders:: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR KEEPING ME GOING!!! Good luck to you all in everything that you do: )


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